New Armenian Constitution supported by third of voters

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Armenia has published the preliminary results of the referendum on the amendments to the Constitution of Armenia after the ballots from all 1997 polling stations across Armenia have been processed.

63.35% of the citizens voted for the reform. 32.35% of the participants voted against.

The referendum scored relatively low voter turnout: it was attended by only 50.51%, which is 9.5% percent lower than in the last presidential elections in 2013, News.am reports.

The head of the parliamentary faction of the Armenian National Congress, Levon Zurabyan, said in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that the referendum was completely undemocratic. "It could not be democratic, because it raised the question of the preservation of Serzh Sargsyan's rule, not of constitutional changes. And the authorities have resorted to all sorts of manipulation and falsification. Even just comparing the official numbers with the same numbers in past constitutional referendums, as well as demographic indicators in Armenia show that 1.3 million people is a completely exaggerated number," he said.

"Look, 1.2 million people voted in the constitutional referendum in 1995, 1.2 million people voted in 2003, and according to official data, 350 thousand people emigrated from Armenia in 2005. How is this possible, that after a decline of the Armenian population the constitutional referendum was attended by 1.3 million people. It's just not possible. We are talking about a very large-scale falsification," he noted.

"According to our estimates, about 500 thousand votes were falsified. The opposition 'No' front won in almost all the major cities – Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor and Kapan. They managed to rig the elections with the help of Armenian regions with poor control," Zurabyan believes.

According to Levon Zurabyan, "if you try to bring the figures into line with the demographics, I think that more than 900 thousand or 1 million people couldn't vote in the referendum, it is simply impossible." "We have received about 600 thousand votes, while the government could expect 300-350 thousand votes in the best case," he said.

The politician said that "Serzh Sargsyan has achieved such a scheme to retain power, which gives him the opportunity to rule in Armenia after finishing his presidential term." "He's got a continuation of power, but at the cost of weakening," Zurabyan concluded.