The Armenian government has decided to allocate a total of more than 1.8 billion drams, an equivalent of about $3.8 million, for the preparation and holding of a constitutional referendum due later this year. The government also endorsed the legislative initiative of a number of ruling Republican Party lawmakers under which citizens will also be able to vote in the December 6, 2015 referendum by producing only their ID card. Before 2014 hundreds of Armenian citizens were issued ID cards besides their passports. The new initiative is also likely to raise questions about possible vote tampering. The experts are concerned that after adopting the legislative initiative people would have two documents to vote, which in the opinion of Heriknaz Tigranyan, Legal Adviser of Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) might serve as a new tool for electoral fraud. “We are concerned about double voting. A person may once vote by his passport and may go the precinct and vote by ID card. It may give way to double voting.”

See the article by Radio Liberty.