A proposal to introduce an electoral residency requirement will be discussed during one of the upcoming extraordinary sessions of the National Assembly, according to Hayk Konjoryan, head of the ruling Civil Contract parliamentary faction.
Konjoryan said the draft law is already in circulation and will be included in the agenda of an upcoming extraordinary parliamentary session.
“There will be extraordinary sessions of the National Assembly with various agendas. One of them will concern the establishment of an electoral qualification, namely that a citizen of Armenia must have resided in the country for at least six months during the previous year in order to have the right to participate in elections and determine the fate of our state,” he said, according to Haykakan Zhamanak.
He added that the future of the state should be shaped by citizens whose center of interests is located in Armenia.
“A citizen whose center of interests is not the Republic of Armenia, who does not live in Armenia for extended periods and who will not personally experience the consequences of that choice, raises a question of fairness from the perspective of those living in Armenia. We saw examples of this during the election, when some people said, ‘We came to vote and leave; what happens afterward does not concern us.’ This is an issue that citizens themselves have raised before us,” Konjoryan emphasized.
On June 14, the final results of the June 7 parliamentary elections were published. Civil Contract received 726,819 votes, or 49.7456 percent. Strong Armenia won 340,006 votes, or 23.2710 percent, while the Hayastan Alliance received 144,983 votes, or 9.9231 percent. The Prosperous Armenia Party failed to pass the 4 percent threshold, receiving 58,287 votes, or 3.9893 percent.
Civil Contract will hold 64 seats in parliament, including three seats allocated to representatives of national minorities. Strong Armenia will receive 29 seats, including one reserved for an Assyrian representative, while the Hayastan Alliance will have 12 seats.
