Statement: On the Disproportionate Restriction of the Right to Vote
On July 3, 2026, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia adopted inthe second reading and in its entirety the amendments to the RA Electoral Codeand the Law on Referendum, according to which, during the elections of the RANational Assembly and local self-government bodies, only those citizens of theRepublic of Armenia who have been physically present in the Republic ofArmenia for 366 or more days within the 730 days preceding the vote shall havethe right to vote.The ruling faction of the National Assembly unanimously adopted theamendments within a 24-hour regime without any prior public discussion, despitetheir blatant unconstitutionality, and the positions presented on it,¹ ² ³ as well asthe conclusion issued by the Expert and Analytical Department of the National
Assembly.⁴ Although international practice and the European Court of HumanRights case law include instances where the right to vote is restricted based onresidency, those cases involve decades of absence, rather than a period of lessthan a single electoral cycle.Moreover, the amendments are planned to be applied during the upcoming localgovernment elections, which means they will have a retroactive adverse effect onvoters in the local government elections expected in the fall of 2026. Thesevoters could not have assumed that their absence for work-related or otherpurposes could result in being deprived of their right to vote.The current regulations for compiling voter lists (the presence of a validdocument and registration) are measurable, predictable, and rectifiablerestrictions. In other words, a person can apply to the authorized body within theperiod prescribed by law and restore their name to the voter list.The restriction provided for by the recent amendments to the Electoral Codecould have applied to the voter list; instead, it applies to the right to vote, withoutany objective possibility of restoration.Thus, both the content of the amendments and their application contradict thecurrent Constitution.Moreover, in the case of National Assembly elections, these amendmentsprovide for more unfavorable conditions for voters than for those being elected.The amendments are also in conflict with other sections of the RA ElectoralCode. Specifically, Article 62 of the RA Electoral Code provides for the possibilityof electronic voting for military personnel who are on long-term official mission orstudying in foreign states; however, the provision restricting the right to vote doesnot list military personnel as an exception.The amendments made are problematic from the point of view of several articlesof the RA Constitution:Article 28. General Equality Before the Law – All citizens of the Republic ofArmenia are equal before the law.
Article 29. Prohibition of Discrimination – The restriction of rights on any ground,including circumstances of a social nature, is prohibited, whereas theseamendments, first and foremost, directly restrict the electoral rights of citizensperforming migrant seasonal work.Article 48. Electoral Right and the Right to Participate in a Referendum – TheConstitution of the Republic of Armenia provides for the deprivation of electoralrights only on the basis of an individual judicial act for persons recognized aslegally incapacitated, as well as those convicted of and serving sentences forintentionally committed serious or particularly serious crimes. No other groundsor means for deprivation of electoral rights are provided for.Article 73. Retroactive Effect of Laws and Other Legal Acts – Laws and otherlegal acts that worsen a person’s legal status do not have retroactive effect;therefore, the amendments, even if they acquire the force of law, cannot beapplied retroactively.Article 78. Principle of Proportionality – Neither during the discussions in theNational Assembly nor otherwise have sufficient justifications been presented asto why the mentioned restriction is necessary and, moreover, urgent.
Taking into account the above, we call uponthe President of the Republic of Armenianot to sign the package of amendments and to send it to the ConstitutionalCourt for a compliance assessment.To the Deputies of the 8th Convocation of the National Assembly of the Republicof ArmeniaTo appeal to the Constitutional Court to challenge the compliance of theamendments with the Constitution.To convene an extraordinary session and revoke the amendments on anurgent basis, providing for broad public discussions in the future with theparticipation of interested structures and persons to assess both the true scopeof the problem and the proportional ways to resolve it.
¹ https://www.facebook.com/factor.am/posts/
² https://hcav.am/announcement-30-06-26/
³ https://www.facebook.com/akanatesditord/posts
⁴ http://parliament.am/draft_history.php?do=showdiveval&Div=5&ID=16474
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor
Direct Democracy NGO