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Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan, who tops the electoral list of the Armenia bloc, stressed the need to simplify the procedure of gaining Armenian citizenship.

“The first Constitution of the Republic of Armenia simply prohibited dual citizenship. We made great efforts and removed this ban as a result of constitutional reforms, enabling citizens of other countries to obtain an Armenian passport. This procedure was rather simple,” Kocharyan told a meeting with his supporters in Armavir Province on Tuesday.

“I am surprised when you say that it takes 1-3 years to obtain Armenian citizenship. This issue can be easily resolved,” he added.

The ex-president assured that the process of obtaining Armenian citizenship will be facilitated and will last only a few months if he comes to power as a result of the upcoming snap parliamentary elections.

“If a person is Armenian, what is the problem here? This was the basis of our constitutional reforms. The fact of being an ethnic Armenian is enough to gain the citizenship of Armenia, now they check for three years whether you are Armenian or not? It is not clear to me why it lasts so long,” he said.

According to Kocharyan, not being a citizen of a country and participating in its national elections is a bit controversial issue and needs to be discussed. He said if a person has the status of a resident, participating in the local government elections is not a problem.

“We now have another problem: a person with Armenian citizenship, who is in another country has no right to cast a vote. Previously, such voting was organized on the territory of our consulates. This, undoubtedly, needs to be restored,” the former president said.