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The leader of opposition Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian has officially joined opponents of the draft amendments to the Constitution of Armenia, the party said in a statement. 

R. Hovannisian said in his statement that a result can only be achieved by joint efforts and a selfless and consistent struggle.

Raffi Hovannisyan also addressed Vardan Poghosyan – a member of the Specialized Commission on Constitutional Reforms adjunct to Armenian President, the official representative of the Armenian president in the parliament for constitutional reforms issues – noting that the submitted draft constitutional amendments “may be remarkable from a professional point of view, but unfortunately, the political goal is low”.

As was reported, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on August 21 sent the draft constitutional amendments to the National Assembly of Armenia. The draft was prepared by the Specialized Commission on Constitutional Reforms adjunct to Armenian President. On September 11 the draft amendments received a positive opinion of the parliament’s standing committee on state and legal affairs, followed by the draft’s debates at the autumn session of NA. On October 5 the Armenian parliament adopted the draft decision of NA about its consent to put the document to a referendum. The parliament adopted the draft decision by a majority of the votes: 104 MPs voted in favor, 10 against, with 3 abstentions. The draft was backed by the factions of Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), opposition ARF-Dashnaktsutyun, and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP). Opposition factions ‘Heritage’ and ‘Armenian National Congress’ (ANC), and 2 MPs of the opposition faction ‘Orinats Yerkir’ voted against. December 6, 2015 has been set by the head of state as the day of the constitutional referendum.