CC WENT TO RETIRING ROOM

A1+
11 February, 2008

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia holds a hearing on
presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian’s claim on February 11th.

Armenia’s First President asked the Constitutional Court (CC)
to recognise the obstacles thrown in his way at the pre-election
period insuperable. He urged Armenia’s highest judicial body to
postpone Armenia’s presidential election by two weeks, citing state
television’s hostile coverage of his election campaign and related
political activities.

In its appeal to the Constitutional Court filed on February 7,
the Ter-Petrossian campaign claimed that the "government-controlled
Armenian Public Television has been waging a smear campaign against
him before and after the official onset of campaigning for the
February 19 ballot." It said the resulting obstacles are "making
his further participation in electoral processes impossible although
Ter-Petrossian is not intent on discontinuing his fight against the
kleptocratic regime but will carry this mission to a victorious end
with even greater vigor"

Chairperson of the "Supreme Council" Deputy Club Ruben Torossian
presented the facts in the Constitutional Court. H1 and Armenia’s
other leading broadcasters loyal to the government have attacked
Ter-Petrossian on a virtually daily basis ever since he ended his
decade-long political retirement to condemn the country’s "corrupt
and criminal" leadership and announce his participation in the
presidential ballot.

Local media watchdogs have repeatedly criticized them for showing
"unprecedented" bias against the ex-president. The other candidates,
particularly, Artashes Geghamian, deliberately use the campaign to
smear Levon Ter-Petrossian instead of presenting their pre-election
programme. "We must formalize the fact that an unprecedented smear
campaign is being waged against Levon Ter-Petrossian through the state
apparatus and foreign officials. Levon Ter-Petrosian is regularly
portrayed in a negative light," he said.

According to Artak Zeynelian, before appealing to the Constitutional
Court they had appealed to the Central Electoral Commission and the
Administrative Court to "ensure candidates’ equal rights guaranteed
by the constitution." Specifically, the ex-president wants to get as
much airtime as Public Television’s H1 channel, the most accessible
in Armenia, has spent covering his activities.

After the hearing, the CC took a break and went to a retiring room
to decide whether the disputed obstacles are insuperable or not.

To note, in reply to Ruben Torossian, CC Chairman Gagik Harutiunian
noted, "We are not here to consider violations or obstacles. We are
to consider the issue of insuperable obstacles." Gagik Harutiunian’s
words imply that he endorses the existing obstacles.

To remind, under Armenia’s Electoral Code, a presidential election
can be put off if one of the candidates is deemed to be facing
"insurmountable obstacles" in trying to get their message across to
voters. If those obstacles are not eliminated by authorities with
a two-week period, the vote must be cancelled and held anew within
40 days.