On May 26 press-conference of the International Election Observation Mission of OSCE/ODIHR and the Parliamentary Assemblies of the OSCE and the Council of Europe. At the meeting with journalists the observers presented their preliminary findings and conclusions on the elections to the RA National Assembly.
The preliminary statement notes in particular that the parliamentary elections marked several improvements over the past presidential election in terms of the campaign and media coverage.
In the opinion of IEOM, the Public Television of Armenia “generally fulfilled its legal obligation to provide all parties and blocs contesting the proportional election with free time under equal conditions”. The campaign coverage in the primetime news and analytical programs of PTA was also largely unbiased. However, the observer mission believes, in the two weeks prior to the election coverage of the two government parties became more favorable.
According to the statement, the private broadcasters offered most of their coverage to parties supporting RA President Robert Kocharian: “For example, the only two private channels with nationwide outreach, "Prometheus" and "Armenia" TV, allocated up to 60% of primetime news coverage, with a significant positive slant, to "Orinats Yerkir", Ramkavar Azatakan, the Democratic Liberal Union, ARF "Dashnaktsutiun" and the Republican Party. In contrast, the Justice Alliance and National Unity Party each received just 1% of roughly neutral and positive primetime news coverage.”
Partiality in the election campaign coverage, by the evaluation of international observers, was demonstrated also by another private TV company "ALM", which "provided preferential treatment both in quantity (33%) and quality to the People’s Party, headed by the owner of the channel who is also a candidate in both the proportional and majoritarian contests".
The report also mentions the televised debates of candidates to be a positive development.
In the opinion of IEOM, "the major State-funded newspaper, "Hayastani Hanrapetutiun", showed clear support to the Republican Party, allocating it 21% of its campaign coverage, with an overwhelmingly positive slant. In contrast, it provided the Justice Alliance with roughly equal proportion of neutral and negative references".
As to private print media, as the statement says, they "offered a diverse range of views, but generally supported specific political parties, blocs and candidates, depending on their political slant". The observers noted that "Hayots Ashkhar" daily violated the law, having published two interviews with candidates on the day before the voting, when the pre-election promotion is prohibited.
The preliminary conclusions of the IEOM (in English language), as well as other relevant information can be viewed in the section "Media and Parliamentary Elections-2003".
