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The Democratic Party of Armenia is opposed to the constitutional reform, the party leader Aram Sargsyan said at a press conference today.

In his words, the draft amendments to the Constitution of Armenia contain a number of obscure provisions. “Unfortunately, the Constitution has not played a serious role in our lives. The proposed amendments are unlikely to change anything. They are aimed at preserving the power wing,” Aram Sargsyan said.

Another participant in the press conference – Shirak Torosyan, a parliament member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) faction, spoke about the opinion voiced by constitutional reform opponents that the authorities need the draft constitutional amendments for power reproduction. “It is much easier to achieve reproduction of power under the Constitution currently in force. In a situation when the incumbent Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced that he does not aspire to any post, while elections become a struggle of parties, the rumors about power reproduction are preposterous, to put it mildly”, he said.

As was reported, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on August 21 sent the draft constitutional amendment to the country’s parliament. The draft was developed by the Special Commission on Constitutional Reforms adjunct to Armenian President. Following the debates, the Armenian parliament adopted on October 5 the draft decision of the National Assembly on its consent for the document to be put to a referendum. The decision was passed by a majority of the votes: 104 MPs voted in favor, 10 against, with 3 abstentions. The draft was supported by the factions of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), and opposition ARF-Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP). Opposition factions ‘Heritage’ and ‘Armenian National Congress (ANC), and 2 MPs of opposition faction ‘Orinats Yerkir’ voted against. The Armenian president set December 6, 2015 as the date for the constitutional referendum. The campaign for the constitutional reform in Armenia began on October 10 and will end at midnight of December 4.