Presentation of election-coverage websites held in Armenia

Under the ‘Well-informed voter’ project, the irazek.am and ditaket.am websites will be presented to the public on Friday.

Suren Deheryan, Chairman of the Journalists for the Future, who is author of the program, said that the websites are supposed to inform Armenian voters of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Ditaket.am is aimed at intensifying information flow from Armenia’s regions. The website already contains information on various developments in Armenia’s regions.

“We have passed a long way to achieve this goal. We have worked with regional journalists. Armenia’s regions need attention badly and lack information,” Deheryan said.

Twenty journalists are working in Armenia’s regions for the ditaket.am website, covering both the election campaign, as well as socio-economic problems.

Oliver McCoy, Democratization Program Officer, OSCE Office in Yerevan, stressed the importance of the website for informing the public of Armenian regions’ problems.

He welcomed the implementation of the program in Armenia’s regions. People wishing to keep track of and contribute to democratic processes are sure to use the website. Informed choice is often the best choice, Oliver McCoy said.

As regards irazek.am, it is aimed at informing voters of their rights and the public of the election process.

Gevorg Hayrapetyan, lawyer for the Journalists for Future NGO, noted that all the legal information is easy to understand.
“The website has the following sections: How? When? Why? Violations,” he said.

The website contains all the information on Armenia’s election law, as well as on all the agencies involved in the election process.

“If citizens do not find answers to their question on the website, we can find answers and put them on the website,” Hayrapetyan said.

Albert Poghosyan, co-author of the irazek.am website, pointed out the website’s advantage: as soon as a voter gets registered on the website, it automatically provides the information on the constituency the voter is registered in and on the parliamentary candidates there.

The website also has the ‘Eyewitness report’ section.