PACE: Armenia referendum was perceived by many citizens as vote of confidence in government 

The relatively low turn-out, around 50% of the population, reflects the fact that the referendum was driven by political interests instead of the needs of the Armenian public, the PACE election observation published on the official website of the organization reads.

According to the observation, the referendum was perceived by many citizens as a vote of confidence in the government rather than on the many proposals for change. “The two-and-a-half-year reform process was not inclusive enough, the parliament having only a few weeks to discuss the text and public debate being limited to two months, making it difficult for an agreement to be reached,” the document reads.

Thus, according to the delegation, the core of the constitutional change - the shift from a presidential to a parliamentary system - was perceived by many citizens as a means for the current president to remain in power after the end of his second and final term.

As to the voting process, “the delegation regrets that the authorities were not more concerned by the integrity of the process leading to a new constitution and that it must mention several problems, many of them already mentioned in previous PACE, Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR recommendations:

• the inaccuracy of the voting lists containing the names of many people residing permanently abroad or even deceased, leading to claims that these identities were usurped by people who then voted several times;
• allegations of large-scale organized vote buying and carousel voting as well as pressure on voters;
• the media playing field was once again not a level one and the political parties were not able to fulfil their duties of informing and motivating the public;
• the misuse of administrative resources by executive bodies;
• allegations of pressure on, and attempts to corrupt, election officials; 
• shortcomings in the training of precinct election officials, particularly during counting;
• the lack of mobile voting effectively excluded disabled citizens from the process.

The delegation urges the authorities to address these issues in order to build trust in the voting process and in politics in general to ensure a genuinely democratic future for Armenia,” the document says.

The PACE delegation arrived in Armenia to carry out an observation mission during the constitutional referendum held Sunday.