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On January 21, the RA National Assembly continued the work of the regular sittings. The parliament adopted the legislative initiatives debated on the previous day by voting, after which the parliament continued the debate of the election of the member of the Commission on Television and Radio. The NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport proposed Artur Manukyan’s candidacy nominated by the Civil Contract Faction to be elected for the post.

Giving a speech, Artur Manukyan referred to some data of his biography, highlighted the broadcasting of high-quality Armenian music. In this context, he touched upon some low-quality theatrical programs on television, as well as low-quality songs. “We do not have children’s programs, youth films, we only have vulgar programs for youth. We lose generations. The Armenian language will become a market language. It is a millennium language, isn’t it a pity?” he noticed, referring to the low-quality programs. “There are no people here who are satisfied with our TV programs, here (on TV) there are still problems to be solved,” he said, considering the debates in parliament from the previous day. According to him, people are concerned about these problems, and they should be solved.

The candidate answered to the deputies’ questions. He has noted that in case of being elected, he will be impartial and will freeze the activities in the party.

The NA deputies expressed their views on Artur Manukyan’s candidacy, cultural policy, content of the broadcast, the influence of the Commission on Television and Radio on it, the functions and authorization of the Commission on TV and Radio.

The Secretary of the NA With Honor Faction Hayk Mamijanyan presented the viewpoint of the faction, referring to the colleagues’ speeches. He also spoke about the influence of audiovisual media, underlining the importance of broadcasting materials with high content.

Seyran Ohanyan gave a speech on behalf of the NA Armenia Faction. The deputy touched upon internal political issues and some observations made by the candidate Artur Manukyan. According to him, the candidate has not presented program provisions on how he will work in case of being elected.

Artur Hovhannisyan gave a speech on behalf of the NA Civil Contract Faction. Referring to the influence of TV and radio, the deputy underlined: “We should do everything so that there will be no phenomena at least in the field of TV and radio that endanger the national security, statehood, democracy and our intelligence.” Addressing Hakob Hakobyan and Artur Manukyan being nominated for the post of the member of the Commission on Television and Radio, Artur Hovhannisyan has expressed confidence that if elected, they will do their work successfully.

In his final speech, Artur Manukyan touched upon the deputies’ speeches and gave clarifications.