On December 6, citizens of Armenia will vote in a referendum to change the country’s constitution. It needs 638,583 “yes” votes to pass.

Hetq has taken a look at past national elections and has revealed that while the number of residents in Armenia has been decreasing, the number of eligible voters has increased.

20 Years - From Constitution to Constitution

Armenia’s first constitution after regaining independence was adopted on July 5, 1995. At the time, according to official figures, the country’s population was 3,753,500 and the number of eligible voters was 2,189,804.

According to September 2015 official figures, 3,007,300 people live in Armenia and as of November 6,  2,554,332 have the right to vote.

Over the past twenty years, official sources state that the country’s population has decreased has decreased by 746,000 (20%) and that the number of eligible voters has increased by 340,000.

Election Math: Population Decreases and Eligible Voters Increase

There was a referendum to amend Armenia’s Constitution on May 25, 2003. It failed. Official figures cited the country’s population at the time at 3,210,307, and the number of eligible voters at 2,339,704.

Changes to the constitution were adopted on November 27, 2005. Armenia’s population at the time was 3,215,883 with 2,317,462 eligible voters.

When parliamentary elections were held on May 6, 2012, the number of eligible voters was 2,522,906. The country’s population, at the beginning of the year, was 3,274,300.

The last nation-wide election (presidential) was held on February 18, 2013. As of January 1, 2013 Armenia’s population was 3,026,900 and the number of eligible voters was 2,527,822.

In comparison to 2013, the population had decreased by 247,000 while the number of eligible voters had increased by 5,000.

As noted above, 2,554,322 citizens are eligible to vote in the upcoming December 6 referendum.

Why the official population has decreased by some 20,000 since 2013, the number of voters has risen by 26,510.

The Yerevan Paradox

At the time of the 2013 presidential election, the official population count of Yerevan stood at 1,066,300. There were 813,502 eligible voters.

Since then, Yerevan’s population has increased by 4,000 and the number of eligible voters has increased by 20,000; a factor of 5.