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The central campaign office of ‘Yes’ Front of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) held today a regular sitting ahead of the constitutional reform referendum due in Armenia in the winter. The sitting was conducted by head of the campaign office, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, Panorama.am learned from Ruben Tadevosyan who is responsible for RPA’s organizational activities.    

According to him, the sitting participants elected Vigen Sargsyan, Karen Karapetyan, Hovhannes Hovsepyan, Armen Yeritsyan, Levon Yolyan, and Vahram Baghdasaryan as deputy chiefs of the campaign office. Vigen Sargsyan has been appointed as person in charge of campaigning activity of the office. 

Besides, the tactics of RPA’s campaign and the work schedule were specified at the sitting, with relevant instructions being given, R. Tadevosyan said.

The head of the RPA’s parliamentary faction Vahram Baghdasaryan earlier  said in an interview with Panorama.am that the campaign office of Republican Party of Armenia would hold a sitting  on October 24 to clarify the tactics of RPA’s propaganda campaign ahead of the referendum on the constitutional reform in Armenia. “The office already conducted two sittings. At the third sitting on Saturday, participants will clarify RPA’s tactics and who will carry out this or that part of the work, and a person in charge of the campaign will be appointed. We are going to discuss work of regional offices as well. Our tactics will become known on October 26,” the MP said at that time.  

In his words, RPA will also organize regional meetings as part of the campaign. MPs elected from those districts will participate in meetings ‘to present provisions of the draft amendments to the Constitution”.

Baghdasaryan added  that Armenian President, RPA Chairman Serzh Sargsyan had not yet specified the format of his participation in the campaign and that the issue was not discussed by the party.

For their part, opponents of the constitutional reform in Armenia set up ‘No’ front that now consists of two camps. The first is ‘New Armenia’s public salvation front established by members of Heritage opposition party and Founding Parliament opposition civic initiative. The second camp is ‘No’ movement formed by opposition parties Armenian National Congress (ANC) and People’s Party of Armenia, which have already set up a joint campaign office ahead of the referendum. 

To remind, 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.