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The process of drafting the constitutional amendments was transparent, while the Special Commission on Constitutional Reforms adjunct to Armenian President worked openly, and all the decisions made were public ones, with part of the society actively reacting to them, Minister-Chief of the Armenian Government Staff David Harutyunyan who was also a member of the Commission said today during discussion on the constitutional reform in Armenia.

He did not share the opinion that haste is being shown in implementing the constitutional reform, noting that the work in that direction began back in 2013.

According to David Harutyunyan, at first glance the draft constitutional amendments seem to be a simple document, but in reality the document is more profound.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on August 21 sent the draft constitutional amendments 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.