Armenia’s National Assembly has passed legislation barring many Armenian citizens living abroad from voting in future parliamentary elections and national referendums.
Under the new law, only Armenian citizens who have lived in Armenia for at least 366 of the previous 730 days, assessed 48 days before election day, will be eligible to vote in parliamentary elections and national referendums.
The new requirement will exclude many labor migrants, seasonal workers, Armenians employed abroad, and tens of thousands of diaspora Armenians who retain Armenian citizenship but spend much of the year outside Armenia.
The legislation was introduced days after Civil Contract failed to secure a constitutional majority in the June 7 parliamentary elections and was approved by the National Assembly less than a month later. Throughout the campaign, members of the ruling party repeatedly highlighted Armenian citizens traveling from Russia to vote.
For years, Armenia’s electoral system allowed all Armenian citizens to participate in parliamentary elections and national referendums regardless of where they lived. Only after the June 7 elections did the ruling party move to impose a residency requirement, prompting accusations that the changes are politically motivated.
According to the bill’s authors, Armenian citizenship alone should not be sufficient to participate in parliamentary elections and national referendums, arguing that voters should maintain a meaningful connection to Armenia through long-term physical residence in the country.
The measure marks one of the most significant changes to Armenia’s electoral law since independence, fundamentally redefining which Armenian citizens are eligible to participate in parliamentary elections and national referendums.
