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Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia Arman Tatoyan on Friday deplored the statements of the political forces during the campaign for the June 20 snap parliamentary elections.

“Instead of substantive issues, mutual accusations of various political forces and figures, including officials, use of foul language coupled with violent rhetoric prevail in the election campaign,” the ombudsman wrote on Facebook.

“At the same time, it so happened that even the public has already got used to it, and when one side insults or accuses the other, the public begins to look forward to the response of the other side.

“It seems that the stronger is the one who voices more accusations, swears or insults with a louder voice using new words. Then, supporters of the political forces or public figures use the same words to trade insults and swear words.

“However, the election campaign is not intended to provide people with public scenes of mutual accusations, insults and swearing.

“As a result of all this, the public discourse is almost entirely filled with topics of struggle for power.

“During the election period, issues of concern to people in real life, which have been raised by the annual and special reports of the human rights defender for years, should become the subject of discussions,” Tatoyan said.