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On the initiative of Hovhannes Sahakyan,  Chairman of Armenian parliament’s standing committee on state and legal affairs, the issue of making amendments and additions to the Law on ID Cards  and the Electoral Code of Armenia  was included today in the agenda of four-day sittings of the National Assembly. 82 MPs voted for the proposal, 18 voted against, with 15 abstentions. The bill will be discussed on a priority basis.

Hovhannes Sahakyan said earlier at a sitting of the standing committee on state and legal affairs that over 558 thousand Armenian citizens currently may not vote during an election or a referendum because they have only ID cards (new internal passports in Armenia).  A citizen’s registration place is not indicated on his or her ID card. Besides, it is impossible to put a stamp on an ID card during a vote . The proposed amendments to legislation shall ensure that ID cards will be accepted as an identity document during electoral processes, and the law will stipulate that no stamp shall be put in them during a vote.

H. Sahakyan stressed today that many discussions took place in connection with the issue, during which it was repeatedly stated that citizens may vote by showing their ID cards. In his words, the amendments are aimed at eliminating the legal controversies. He also said that the relevant decision should be taken as soon as possible.

Earlier, Chairman of Armenia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) Tigran Mukuchyan said during a briefing in the parliament that a citizen cannot vote at several polling stations during the constitutional reform referendum in Armenia. Commenting on statements that citizens with ID cards will have an opportunity to vote not only at their polling stations, but others as well, Mukuchyan said: “When a citizen comes to a polling station, his first step is to approach a member of the election commission and show an identity document.  The commission member checks the voter’s name and photo and then the citizen is allowed to vote. The same citizen will fail to vote at another polling station because voter lists are compiled at the place of citizens’ registration”.  Mukuchyan said that a citizen’s name is put on a voters’ list only once and the same person may not registered as a voter at another polling station.