According to Radio Liberty opposition groups in Armenia have voiced suspicions over an unexpected dismissal of a senior official in charge of voter lists just weeks before a constitutional referendum. Misha Sardarian, who headed the Police Passport and Visa Department since June 2014, has been replaced by Colonel Mnatsakan Bichakhchian. Since Serzh Sarkisian was first elected president in 2008, this is the sixth change of the agency’s head, and most of the changes were mainly done ahead of national elections. The local opposition considers the figures to be inflated and has repeatedly claimed that the authorities use this to tamper with voter lists. Since Armenian citizens abroad are not enabled to vote in elections, Varuzhan Hoktanyan, Executive Director of Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) call for the application of Kyrgyzstan’s experience by indicating in the voter lists the names of those voters who do not permanently reside in Armenia.

“The voter lists are not published, but at least this can be done. Unfortunately, this problem does not get a solution,” said executive director of the Anti-Corruption Center, an Armenian affiliate of Transparency International.

The Armenian opposition demands that the names of the citizens who do not permanently reside in Armenia be removed from the electoral roll, and that they should be enabled to go to the polls by additional lists.

See Radio Liberty's report.