Local Referendum Cannot Be Non-Binding: Marukyan

The National Assembly is discussing a package of legislative amendments to the Local Referendum Act presented by members of the My Step faction, Varazdat Karapetyan and Vahe Ghalumyan. According to the proposed amendments, local referendums can be initiated by the community's residents on issues related to community mergers or divisions.

It is also proposed that the results of local referendums conducted on the merging or dividing of communities will have a consultative character. Final decisions on the administrative-territorial division of communities will be made by the Government and the National Assembly, meaning that the results of the local referendum may not be binding.

Edmond Marukyan, the leader of the Bright Armenia faction, reminded that the merging of communities was not unanimously accepted before the revolution. He emphasized the importance of evaluating whether the merging of communities is good or bad.

Marukyan also stated that if there is a local referendum, its results should be mandatory. "It is unacceptable to hold a local referendum and have it be non-binding; this is a disgrace to the electoral institution. In villages, people say, ‘We all voted against it, but it was still merged,’ so elections are a lie, and we will not participate in parliamentary elections because they are a lie. Do you understand? We cannot convince people that this is a non-binding local referendum; they know that if they unite and vote against it, the merger will not happen," emphasized Edmond Marukyan.