Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s visits to provinces in the heat of this parliamentary campaign period caused severe criticism, as the premier is accused of abusing his office because he distributed party cards and presented the election platform of the Republican Party (RPA) during his visits.

At the weekend Sargsyan, accompanied with a few ministers, visited Ararat and Gegharkunik provinces, and visits to other provinces are scheduled during the upcoming months.

According to official sources, in provinces the premier had meetings with “provincial Republican representatives, active public representatives and the intelligentsia and discussed the RPA election platform with them.”

However, the statements made there and the promises given to villagers did not refer to mere party platforms.

At a nearly two-hour meeting in Gavar Premier Sargsyan stated that soft loans of about seven billion drams (about $18 million) will be given to villagers, reminding them that subsidy programs of fertilizers, diesel, and agricultural machinery were implemented last year.

“Are all these programs implemented by RPA with its own funds? This was the result of cooperation between the Government and international programs, and to present this during a campaign is abuse of power,” Ruben Torosyan, head of Center of Parliamentarianism NGO, told ArmeniaNow.

Torosyan reminds that yet in October-November last year the premier distributed party cards to Republicans during his official visits; the issue was even discussed at the National Assembly, but was nonetheless curtailed.

“The control over the issue of abuse of office by officials who are party members is exercised by the minister of justice, however, there is no response as of now,” Torosyan says.

The Republicans insist that the premier’s visits were mere party visits; however, they do not explain what Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasyan (who does not belong to any political party) was doing in the delegation headed by Sargsyan in provinces last week.

“If he [Premier Sargsyan] leaves for provinces by his office car, accompanied by the Government’s staff, then it cannot be viewed as a party visit,” Artsvik Minasyan, a lawmaker from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun) told ArmeniaNow.