YEREVAN. – Constitutional amendments, and not a draft for a new Constitution, will be put to a referendum on December 6. 

National Assembly Vice President, Eduard Sharmazanov, who is also press secretary of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), expressed such a view at a press conference on Tuesday.

“There is no rush,” Sharmazanov said. “one year and eight months were used effectively.”

He stressed yet again that for them, this referendum is not a matter of life and death.

To the remark that the opposition is already claiming fraud, the RPA spokesperson responded: “It’s not right, it’s not ethical to accuse someone in advance of being bought. You need to look for the problem within yourself.”

The opposition also argues that the voter lists are artificially inflated, and the authorities are distributing election bribes.

“If the voter lists are inflated, they should petition to the relevant authorities,” Eduard Sharmazanov added in this regard. “I’m far from believing that there will be no violation. But we’ll do everything so that this referendum is held in best quality possible.”

The referendum on Armenia’s constitutional amendments will be conducted on Sunday.

Pursuant to the proposed amendments, the country will make a transition from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary system of governance, and conduct completely proportional parliamentary elections.

The opponents of these amendments, however, consider them to be primarily the authorities’ attempt to hang on to power.