YEREVAN. - It can be recorded that the majority of Armenia’s political forces positively assess the draft constitutional reforms, Parliament Vice President and Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov said after the RPA Supreme body session today.  

According to him, Armenia’s draft constitutional reforms incomparably widen the powers of the opposition. “For many years the opposition has demanded to shift to the parliamentary form of governance so that Armenia is not governed from one centre. Secondly, many thought that the authorities use 41 majority seats as a bonus and the election of oppositional candidates is impossible. Thirdly, the main constitutional laws will be adopted not by a simple majority, but 3/5 of the votes. That is, it will be impossible to adopt the most important constitutional laws without the participation of the opposition and reaching consensus,” Sharmazanov said.

According to him, under the current draft constitutional reforms, 1 of 3 Vice Chairmen of the Parliament can be proposed by the opposition.  “It’s very important that our colleagues from the opposition are directly in the system of governance and have not only rights, but also responsibilities,” he said.