190 MILLION 940 THOUSAND DRAMS SPENT OUT OF 199 MILLION 630 THOUSAND GENERAL SUM DEBITED IN FUNDS OF CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENCY
Noyan Tapan
Feb 15, 2008
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. All the nine candidates registered
for the purpose of taking part in the February 19 RA presidential
elections have formed pre-electoral funds and opened temporary special
accounts in banks.
As of February 12, according to the data presented to the
Control-Auditing Service affiliated to the Central Electoral Commission
by the RA Central Bank, there are no financial entries and consequently
expenditures only in the pre-electoral fund of Arman Melikian. In the
funds of the other eight candidates 199 million 630 thousand drams,
in general, have been debited, 190 million 940 thousand of which has
been spent. Debits of the greatest volume have been made to the fund
of Serge Sargsian, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and
the presidential candidate from the Republican Party of Armenia, and
the smallest ones to that of Aram Haroutiunian, the candidate of the
National Agreement party. This statement was made by Ara Haroutiunian,
the Head of the Service, at the press conference, which was held on
February 14.
It should be mentioned that the means of the pre-electoral fund cannot
exceed 70 million drams (approximately 225.8 thousand U.S. dollars.)
According to A. Haroutiunian, the funds, in general, have been formed
by the personal means of 6 candidates and one party means, by the
voluntary payments of 588 physical and 125 juridical people. The 60.3
percent of the spent means has been directed at campaign publicity,
23.9 percent at paying broadcasting hour, 14.1 percent at the
preparation of printing materials, and 1.6 percent at the leasing of
territories and halls.
A. Haroutiunian also introduced the picture of the financial entries
and expenditures of the funds of separate candidates. Thus, the entries
of 69 million 270 thousand drams of the fund of Serge Sargsian come
from the 5 million drams paid by the personal means of the candidate,
as well as the payments of 93 physical (10 million 550 thousand drams)
and 22 juridical people (49 million 720 thousand drams). As of the
above-mentioned moment, 58 million 740 thousand drams has been spent,
57 percent of which has been spent for the purpose of campaign
publicity, 30 percent for the preparation of printing materials,
and 12.9 percent for paying broadcasting hour.
The entries of 49 million drams of the fund of Vahan Hovhannisian,
the candidate of the ARF Dashnaktsutiun and the Vice Speaker of the
National Assembly, come from the 20 million drams and 10 million drams
correspondingly paid by the personal means of the ARF DAshnaktsutiun
and the candidate, as well as the voluntary payments of 1 juridical
(500 thousand drams) and 112 physical people (18.5 million drams). In
the period under review 48 million 940 thousand drams was spent,
89.1 percent of which for campaign publicity, 7.4 percent for paying
broadcasting hour, 2.35 percent for the preparation of printing
materials, and 1.2 percent for the leasing of halls.
The entries of 33.21 million drams of the fund of Arthur Baghdasarian,
the candidate of the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party, come from
the 10 million drams paid by the personal means of the candidate,
as well as the voluntary payments of 126 physical people, which made
23 million 210 thousand drams. In the period under review 33 million
150 thousand drams has been spent, 90 percent of which for paying
broadcasting hour and campaign publicity, 5 percent for obtaining
leasing territories, and 4.9 percent for the preparation of printing
materials.
The entries of 22 million 330 thousand drams of the fund of Levon
Ter-Petrosian, the first President of the Republic of Armenia
nominated by the civil initiative, come from the voluntary payments
of 2 juridical (1 million drams) and 152 physical people (21 million
330 thousand drams). 21 million 557 thousand drams has been spent, 82
percent of which for paying broadcasting hour, 8.8 percent for campaign
publicity, and 9.1 percent for the preparation of printing materials.
The entries of the 14.6 million drams of the fund of Artashes
Geghamian, the candidate of the National Unity party, come from the
2 million drams paid from the personal means of the candidate, and
the voluntary payments of 63 physical people, which make 12.6 million
drams. 14 million 364 thousand drams has been spent, 50 percent of
which for the purpose of paying broadcasting hour, 37 percent for
campaign publicity, and 12.7 percent for printing materials.
The entries of the 9 million 580 thousand drams of the fund of Tigran
Karapetian, the candidate of the People’s Party, fully comes from the
payments made from the personal means of the candidate. The whole sum
has been spent: 99 percent has been used for paying broadcasting hour,
and 1 percent for the preparation of printing materials.
The entries of the 4 million 400 thousand drams of the fund of Vazgen
Manukian, the candidate of the National Democratic Union, comes from
the 2 million drams paid from the personal means of the candidate
and the payments made by 21 physical people, which make 2 million
400 thousand drams. 3 million 570 thousand drams has been spent,
70 percent of which for the preparation of printing materials, 23.5
percent for the leasing of halls, 4 percent for paying broadcasting
hour, and about 2 percent for the purpose of campaign publicity.
The payments of the 1 million 190 thousand drams of the fund of Aram
Haroutiunian, the candidate of the National Agreement party, come from
the voluntary payments of 21 physical people. 1 million 30 thousand
drams has been spent, 96 percent of which for campaign publicity,
and 4 percent for paying broadcasting hour.
Ara Haroutiunian also stated that the Central Electoral Commission has
received two application-protests concerning the facts on spending sums
beyond the means of the pre-electoral funds of the candidates from
Ruben Torosian, the Chairman of the Supreme Council parliamentarian
club. Both of the application-protests concern the legality of the
expenditures made during the pre-electoral campaign of candidate Serge
Sargsian. According to Ara Haroutiunian, as a result of the study,
the Service has found out that facts do not correspond to reality and
the expenditures have been made within the frameworks of the laws. In
particular, Ruben Torosian pointed out the fact about distributing
similar red-white coats with campaign inscription from the United
Liberal-National Party. According to Ara Haroutiunian, 140 thousand
drams has been transferred to the United Liberal-National Party from
the pre-electoral fund of the candidate in order to compensate the
expenditures for the preparation of the campaign writing.
As regards the coats, according to the Head of the Control-Auditing
Service, they cannot be considered as campaign material as they are
the property of those wearing them. The second protest concerned
the gathering held in the hall of the "Moscow" cinema of Yerevan on
January 26 by the territorial subdivision of the RPA Kentron community,
for which, according to Ara Haroutiunian, 200 thousand drams has been
paid to the cinema from the means of the Republican Party of Armenia.