YEREVAN. - The overwhelming majority of the parliamentary forces has started discussing the new draft Constitution, Parliament Vice President and Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov told Armenian News – NEWS.am, referring to the meetings held in the presdential residence over the constitutional reforms.

“It is up to each political party to decide whether to participate in a meeting with the president or not. In case of the “Heritage” party, we know that the head of the faction responded positively to the constitutional reforms. The “Heritage” faction members Alexander Arzumanyan and Khachatur Kokobelyan have accepted the [president’s] invitation [to take part in the consultations on constitutional reforms]. As to the Armenian National Congress (ANC), this political force has isolated itself,” Sharmazanov said. 

According to him, any political force must take part in the elections and political debates, which, however, is not the case with the ANC. “If they don’t comply with those principles and are [still] a political force, then…I have nothing to say, judge yourself,” he said.

Referring to the political forces which met with Armenia’s president, Sharmazanov said that the majority of those forces positively assessed the shift to the parliamentary system and proportional election.

Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan started holding consultations with the country's political forces on constitutional reforms yesterday.