YEREVAN. – The electorate was not passive during voting in the constitutional referendum, and its turnout of 50.51 percent is a normal indicator. 

Head of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) National Assembly Faction, Vahram Baghdasaryan, told about the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In his words, this figure exceeded expectations.

“The voting was active,” Baghdasaryan noted.

As for the low voter turnout in Gyumri and Vanadzor cities, the RPA MP said: “If the turnout number had been high, they would have interpreted it in another way. They would have said there had been [ballot] stuffing. It seems to me that low participation is completely normal; this is the constitutional right of every citizen.”

In line with preliminary data, 1,296,368 voters, or 50.51 percent of the people on the voters’ lists, cast their ballots in the referendum.

The referendum on Armenia’s constitutional amendments was conducted on Sunday.

Following the independence of Armenia in 1991, the Constitution was adopted on July 5, 1995, which is marked as Constitution Day.

The Constitution was amended in 2005, and the country switched from a presidential to a semi-presidential system of governance.

And pursuant to the currently proposed amendments, the country will make a transition from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary system of governance, and conduct completely proportional parliamentary elections.