For more than two decades, such citizens have been legally allowed to vote only in polling stations inside Armenia. The bill approved by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government and passed by the National Assembly in the first reading stipulates that they will lose voting rights if they have stayed in the country for less than half of the two years preceding elections or a referendum. This restriction will not apply to Armenian diplomats and students enrolled in foreign universities.
Opposition lawmakers condemned the measure as unconstitutional and undemocratic during a short parliament debate. They also deplored the fact that it was not put up for public discussion or sent to international bodies, notably the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission.
“Such a violation of a fundamental right is yet another proof that Civil Contract has nothing to do with human rights,” said Artsvik Minasian of the opposition Hayastan alliance.
Several Western-funded civic organizations likewise strongly criticized the bill in a joint statement issued last week. They said that it constitutes an unconstitutional and disproportionate restriction of voting rights.
Defending the legislation, pro-government lawmakers repeated Civil Contract claims that Armenian citizens living in Russia were paid to travel to Armenia and vote for billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s opposition alliance in the June 7 parliamentary elections. But they did not come up with any estimates of the number of such people.
Minasian cited official figures which he said disprove the declared rationale for the bill. According to them, the number of expats who entered the country from January through May was up only about 3,000 from the year-earlier period.
Another Hayastan parliamentarian, Aghvan Vartanian, claimed that the real purpose of the bill is to make it easier for Pashinian to enact through a referendum a new Armenian constitution demanded by Azerbaijan. Under the existing constitution, it has to be backed by at least one-quarter of the country’s 2.5 million or so eligible voters, among them hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in Russia. The total number of such voters should decrease considerably after the disenfranchisement of expats.
“This government has promised Azerbaijan to change our constitution,” said Vartanian. “This government has lost fear of its own people but is afraid of [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev. This change is aimed at fulfilling the Azerbaijani-Turkish assignment.”
The current constitution also stipulates that the draft of a new constitution must be approved by at least two-thirds of the parliament deputies before being put on a referendum. Civil Contract fell short of such a majority in the June 7 elections. Some opposition figures and commentators have speculated that Pashinian could circumvent this requirement.