FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN ELECTION PERIOD
Support A1+!AS ALWAYS
All polling stations closed at 20:00 local time. Vote counting started. A1+ TV Company’s shooting teams, as always, were denied entrance despite the permission got from Central Election Commission.
A QUIET CONSCIENCE SLEEPS IN THUNDER
“Ayb-Fe” news agency learned from bitter experience that overwhelming majority of chairs of polling stations are not familiar with Electoral Code.
Many times the “Ayb-Fe” correspondents were denied entering polling stations. In school N 132, members of polling station commission even tried to pick a tape from his hands. It is remarkable that no election irregularities were recorded on tape. His threats were a great deal suspicious, because the commission members had nothing to worry about. A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder. Isn’t their behaviour is a real evidence that something is wrong at this polling station?
The chair of the election commission of polling station 0203 was firmly obstructing our shooting team’s work. Answering our request to call Central Election Commission to clarify our rights, he said he has “the decision” and showed Election Code, where is not a single word about any restrictions of journalists’ rights.
The head of the commission even called a police officer in a bid to rid of the shooting team. However, the policeman was aware of the code better than the chair of commission – he moved off silently.
Commission’s chair flied into uncontrollable rage and failed to notice that repeated many times: “I am ordered not to let you in”.
JOURNALISTS’ RIGHTS VIOLATED
In N 0332 polling station of Yerevan we were not allowed to record , reasoning we don’t possess the press-pass, approved by CEC.
So, the above election centre seems to have been the “most law-abiding“ one. The rest that let us do our job, break the Law?
