Armenia`s First Human Rights Ombudsman: Introducing residency  requirement would be rollback on democratic norms and rule of law

ArmInfo.  Introducing a residency requirement in Armenia would be a rollback on democratic norms and the principles of the rule of law. This opinion was expressed by  Armenia's first Human Rights Ombudsman, Larisa Alaverdyan, in an  interview with an ArmInfo correspondent, responding to the amendments  to the Electoral Code initiated by the Armenian authorities to  introduce a residency requirement for voters.

Alaverdyan noted that they have long fought to ensure that all  Armenian citizens, wherever they are, can vote in elections.  According to her, depriving citizens of the right to vote because  they live in another country is a sign of the state's backwardness.  "Such an initiative is essentially directed against all citizens, who  have often been forced to leave the country for one reason or  another. It essentially seeks to deprive full-fledged citizens of  Armenia of the opportunity to participate in elections," the human  rights activist noted.

Alaverdyan suggested that the discussion of such an initiative could  be linked to the authorities' tally of the results of the  parliamentary elections held on June 7, as they could show that  citizens who came to Armenia to participate in the elections did not  vote for the party of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. In  other words, according to Armenia's first Human Rights Defender, the  voting results did not satisfy the ruling party. "And although they  attempted to adjust the voting results, it's clear they were far from  what was desired. The announced results didn't correspond to reality,  which, in my opinion, the ruling party representatives know best. I  believe this is precisely what prompted the intention to deprive  Armenian citizens living in other countries of their right to vote.  But this is unacceptable, since every citizen of Armenia has this  right," the human rights activist emphasized.

Alaverdyan, however, did not link the discussion of such an  initiative to the ongoing proceedings in the Constitutional Court  challenging the election results, where a decision to schedule a  second round could theoretically be made. Since, as the human rights  activist explained,

The Constitutional Court, like the entire judicial system in Armenia,  is currently effectively under the control of the executive branch,  and therefore she does not expect such a decision (to schedule a  second round - ed.) to be made. However, she noted that this  initiative still needs to be challenged. "If the relevant law is  adopted, it should be appealed in court. After all, if the dispute  ends in favor of the government, between 800,000 and 1,000,000  Armenian citizens living abroad could be deprived of the right to  vote.  Citizenship is the highest status. And in this sense,  deprivation of the right to vote is one of the most serious  violations for any country striving for a democratic system and the  formation of a state governed by the rule of law," Alaverdyan noted.  According to Armenia's first Ombudsman, this is an unprecedented  situation, and challenging such a law is necessary, even given the  executive branch's control over the judicial system.  "Failure to  appeal to the court could be interpreted as consent to the current  situation. Therefore, the challenge procedure itself is mandatory.  This issue should even be brought to the European Court and the UN  Court (International Court of Justice - ed.), as what is happening  represents a rollback of democratic norms and the principles of the  rule of law. Therefore, it should be raised not only in the courts  but also in all political arenas," Alaverdyan concluded.

As a reminder, at the behest of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan,  members of parliament from the Civil Contract party initiated  amendments to the Electoral Code, according to which citizens of the  Republic who have actually resided in Armenia for 183 or more days  during the previous 365 days will be eligible to participate in  National Assembly elections and referendums. This initiative was  criticized by opposition figures and representatives of civil  society.