Armenians voted in a referendum on a constitutional reform that would curtail the powers of the president and increase those of parliament.
Three hours before polling stations closed at 8:00 pm (1600 GMT) the central electoral commission said the turnout had exceeded 44 percent, while the participation of only a third of voters was sufficient to validate the poll.
Its figures were challenged by the political opposition which had called on voters to shun the poll.
An hour before voting ended about 1,000 opposition supporters gathered in the centre of the capital Yerevan to demonstrate.
The first results of the vote will be known Monday, the electoral commission said. To succeed the project needs the backing of half those casting their ballots.
Armenia’s 2.3 million voters were asked to approve or reject a text that would diminish presidential powers and increase those of parliament and the government, strengthen judicial independence and allow millions of diaspora Armenians to obtain citizenship by scrapping a ban on dual citizenship.
The reforms were drafted with the assistance of experts from the Council of Europe, of which Armenia is a member, and the body called on voters to approve them.
The reforms are part of Armenia’s commitments before the council, which could take disciplinary measures against Armenia if the vote fails, as happened two years ago when a similar referendum was declared invalid because of low turnout.
President Robert Kocharian voted during the morning at a school in the capital Yerevan but refused to predict the outcome, though he seemed to suggest that he would not mind if voters rejected the proposed reform.
“Today the people of Armenia face a choice,” he said.
“I don’t want to predict the outcome. But if the constitutional amendment does not pass, this means we will retain strong presidential power, and President Kocharian will continue doing what he’s been doing,” he said, referring to himself in the third person.
“This (referendum,) is an occasion for Armenians to show their commitment to Europe,” the head of the council’s Parliamentary Assembly, Rene van der Linden, said recently.
But the opposition, which brings together 18 parties and non-governmental organisations, had called on voters to boycott the referendum, saying it would legitimise the regime of Kocharian.
He first came to power in 1998 and was re-elected in 2003 in a vote that many observers said was marred by fraud.
“We are watching the voting process and are seeing many violations,” said Viktor Dallakian, head of the opposition Unity bloc in the Armenian parliament.
“Our observers have already registered violations, for example some people are continuing to campaign at the entrances to polling stations and officials at bureaux are themselves putting voting slips in urns,” he told reporters.
He claimed the government was inflating the turnout figures.
“We say the turnout at 2:00 pm (1000 GMT) was five to six percent, while the electoral commission says it was more than 26 percent,” he said.
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