Home > 5.2 Content of the referendum > ARMENIA - Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Referendum
 
 
 
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Paragraph 25
 

Substantive validity of the draft law is already dealt with by the Constitution insofar as texts submitted to a referendum must comply with all superior law. Concerning unity of form of the referendum proposal, it appears that only specifically-worded drafts may be submitted to referendum. However, no provision addresses the issue of unity of content of the referendum proposal. Moreover, the draft law does not deal with the formulation of the question put to referendum. In order to provide legislative guarantees preventing the distortion of the will of the voters, the Code of Good Practice on Referendums recommends that “the question put to the vote must be clear; it must not be misleading; it must not suggest an answer; electors must be informed of the effects of the referendum; voters must be able to answer the questions asked solely by yes, no or a blank vote”. That is to say,the question should be formulated in a way to enable an unambiguous answer and to provide clarity about the legal consequences of the decision taken by referendum. The Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR recommend introducing the principles of unity of content and clarity of the question into the law.