On August 22 the RA Central Election Commission made a decision on accreditation of journalists for covering the elections to local administration bodies, scheduled for October, 2002. According to the new procedure, each medium can only have two journalists accredited at the CEC and two for each of the polling station commissions. Thus, this decision runs contrary to the RA Election Code, prohibiting restricting the rights of media representatives.
A similar attempt to restrict the access of journalists to covering the elections was last made on the eve of the 1996 presidential elections.
