The validity of the signatures for the initiative of a referendum on the EU accession process has been confirmed
On December 10, the Central Election Commission confirmed the validity of the signatures submitted for the initiative titled “On the Start of the Republic of Armenia’s Accession Process to the European Union.” According to the constitutional law on referendums, a minimum of 50,000 valid signatures is required to initiate a referendum. In this case, 52,351 signatures met the requirements.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) used technical tools to verify the validity of the signatures, including cross-referencing the data from the signed petitions with accessible information from state and local self-government bodies. The process was monitored by the representatives of the initiative group, – this was stated in the announcement.
The next step is for the initiative group to submit a legislative draft on holding a referendum to the National Assembly. If the ruling majority of parliament rejects it, 300,000 signatures will need to be collected. In that case, the referendum will become mandatory even without the approval of the National Assembly.
The signature collection began on September 16 and lasted until November 14. The head of the initiative group is Artak Zeynalyan, a member of the “Republic” party.