Dmitriy Kobitskiy: Campaigning Should Comply with Principles of Democratic Elections

Today, the Tavricheskiy Palace – the headquarters of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly – hosted a roundtable “Campaigning Through Electronic Resources” held within the framework of the snap elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. The event was co-organized by the International Institute for Monitoring Democracy Development, Parliamentarianism and Suffrage Protection of Citizens of IPA CIS Member Nations (IIMDD IPA CIS) and the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Armenia. The roundtable brought together the representatives of parliaments, heads and representatives of election administration bodies of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as international observers from among the IIMDD IPA CIS staff members and experts and the academia.

The welcome address from IPA CIS Council Secretary General Dmitriy Kobitskiy was delivered by Deputy Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat – Director of the IIMDD IPA CIS, Doctor of Law, Professor Ivan Mushket. The address noted the importance of legal regulation of digital technologies during the elections because, on one hand, their use facilitates campaigning and, on the other hand, the absence of common rules of campaigning in the digital space creates new risks and challenges to the political process.

Dmitriy Kobitskiy stressed that campaigning through electronic resources should comply with principles of democratic elections and guarantee electoral rights of citizens.

The roundtable was also attended by Deputy Secretary General – Plenipotentiary Representative of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Ayk Chilingaryan, Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Armenia, Doctor of Law Tigran Mukuchyan, member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Armenia Georgy Martirosyan, Deputy Head of Department of Analytical and Methodical Work of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Holding Republican Referenda Ivan Tolkach and Executive Director of the Russian Foundation for Free Elections, expert of the IPA CIS IIMDD Maxim Leskov.