The Parliament of Armenia limited the influence of the diaspora on the election results.

The Parliament of Armenia, on the day of the last session, introduced restrictions on participation in elections and referendums for voters living outside the country.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on June 1, an investigation emerged showing how Moscow, with the help of pro-Russian blogger Miki Badalyan, is organizing the flight of Russians with Armenian passports to Armenia ahead of the elections. The Anti-Corruption Committee suspected Badalyan of distributing pre-election bribes.

From now on, only those citizens of Armenia who have permanently resided in the republic for 48 days before the elections (or 28 days before extraordinary elections) will be able to vote in nationwide (parliamentary) elections and referendums, meaning that as of the specified date (48 or 28 days before the election day), they must have been in the country for more than a year out of the previous two years (366 days out of the preceding 730). The corresponding amendments were unanimously approved at an extraordinary session of the National Assembly of Armenia on July 3 amid a boycott by the opposition. The initiative was supported by 63 deputies, writes News.Am.

The project, which limited the voting rights of citizens who had been absent from the country for one year, was presented by deputies of the ruling party "Civil Contract", writes Armenia Today.

The requirement for actual residence in Armenia before the elections or referendums is aimed at preventing illegal influence on the electoral process from abroad. This was stated by the Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ruben Rubinyan.

"The goal is to protect the Republic of Armenia from a situation where electoral bribes are distributed en masse abroad and illegally influence the elections in Armenia. These elections showed that such a risk exists. We received signals that pre-election bribes were being distributed abroad," his words are quoted in the publication.

It should be noted that the "Civil Contract" party received 61 mandates in parliament, the "Strong Armenia" bloc - 28 mandates, and the "Armenia" bloc - 12 mandates, stated the Central Election Commission of Armenia. Taking into account the mandates of national minorities, the "Civil Contract" has 64 mandates, while Karapetyan's bloc has 29. The opposition challenged the election results in the Constitutional Court, which is expected to announce its decision no later than July 4.