Open letter

To Members of National Television and Radio Commission

According to Article 83.2 of the amended Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, "an independent regulatory body shall be created with the aim of ensuring the freedom, independence and diversity of broadcast media. Half of the members of this body shall be selected by the National Assembly for a period six years, and the other half shall be appointed by the President of the Republic of Armenia for a period of six years. The National Assembly shall choose its share of the members by the majority of the total number of parliamentarians." At the same time, Article 117 (11) of the Constitution’s Chapter on Final and Transitional Provisions stipulates that "members of the independent body envisaged by Article 83.2 shall remain in office until the end of their term, as specified in the Republic of Armenia Law on Television and Radio. In the case if a member's term expires or is terminated prematurely, the resulting vacancy shall be filled by the National Assembly and the President of the Republic of Armenia, in turns." The different expiration dates of the terms of the current members of the National Television and Radio Commission create a situation, where it would take up to six years to reach the 50-50 ratio required by the Constitution

It would be possible to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, if the current members of the National Television and Radio Commission voluntarily resigned from their posts at the same time, in order to create a new Commission in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution.

We call on the members of the National Television and Radio Commission to demonstrate civic will and resign, all at the same time, from the Commission upon the adoption of amendments to the Republic of Armenia Law on Television and Radio, following which the National Assembly and the President of the Republic of Armenia would appoint new members and carry out the requirements of the Constitution at once.

We believe that you will show that civic responsibility and will heed our call for reason.

The Partnership for Open Society initiative represents more than sixty organizations from the civil society.