Abuse of administrative resource and violation of the Electoral Code by Davit Sanasaryan

For the upcoming snap parliamentary elections, political parties, as well as candidates nominated by the rating system, introduce their pre-election videos to the public.

Davit Sanasaryan, Acting Head of the State Supervision Service, has been nominated by the “My Step” alliance’s rating system. The latter posted his pre-election video on his Facebook page, however, abusing the administrative resource.

The video was made in Davit Sanasaryan’s office, which becomes clear from the flag of Armenia, the furniture, and a part of the picture hanging on the wall behind him. These details are more clearly seen on Sanasaryan’s Facebook page and in the online photos and live videos.

It should be noted, however, that the Electoral Code prohibits the use of areas, transport and communication facilities, material and human resources provided for carrying out their official duties for election campaigning purposes. Exceptions are the security measures applied to high-ranking officials subject to state protection under the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Security of Persons Subject to Special State Protection (Article 23, Part 3 of the Electoral Code).

And according to the RA Code on Administrative Offenses, the use of the abovementioned resources causes a fine of 200,000 to 400,000 AMD for citizens, and 400,000 to 800,000 AMD for officials (Article 40, Part 8).

Thus, filming his pre-election video in the office, Davit Sanasaryan has used an area envisaged for carrying out his duties, for which there is a clearly stipulated punishment.

Кarine Kirakosyan