Armenia’s National Assembly has approved in the first reading a bill amending the Electoral Code to ban the use of personal names in party alliance titles.

The proposal was supported by 66 lawmakers, while 16 voted against, according to Armenpress.

The draft was introduced by Civil Contract MP Arusyak Julhakyan, co-authored by MP Alkhas Ghazaryan.

The amendments stipulate that alliance names may not include personal names, as well as names of state or local government bodies or similar formulations. They also prohibit the use of offensive or defamatory expressions in alliance names.

The bill further proposes that in proportional elections for parliament and local councils, a ballot will be deemed invalid if the envelope contains any item other than the ballot paper. Under current rules, such ballots are not invalidated.

It also introduces a rule that the chair of a territorial electoral commission may not hold any other object while removing the envelope and ballot from the box.

During the discussion, representatives of the Strong Armenia party staged a protest outside parliament, arguing that such changes should not be made just two months before elections. The party, which plans to run under the alliance Strong Armenia with Samvel Karapetyan, described the initiative as undemocratic.

Parliamentary opposition factions Hayastan and I Have Honor also opposed the bill, stressing that changing the “rules of the game” shortly before elections is unacceptable.

Responding to criticism, Julhakyan said the Venice Commission recommends avoiding last-minute changes related to electoral systems, commission composition, or district boundaries, but argued that the proposed amendments are technical and do not fall under those categories.