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Deputy Speaker of Parliament Vahagn Aleksanyan, a senior member of the ruling Civil Contract party, did not rule out on Wednesday the possibility that the ruling majority could secure the opposition votes needed to put the draft of the new Constitution to a referendum, despite opposition forces’ current critical statements about the process.
Journalists asked Aleksanyan how the authorities planned to secure parliamentary support for the initiative when opposition forces had already voiced opposition to adopting a new Constitution.
In response, Aleksanyan referred to examples of cooperation between different political forces at the local level, namely in communities. In his assessment, these examples show that political dividing lines are not insurmountable on all issues.
“I think they will vote in favor of the draft to put the Constitution to a referendum just as easily in the near future,” Aleksanyan said.
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament also emphasized that the final decision on adopting or rejecting the Constitution belongs to the citizens.
“Adopting a new Constitution or rejecting the Constitution is the exclusive right of the people, who are themselves the constituent power. No one other than the people has this right,” he said.
Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan said on November 10 that the text of the new Constitution draft is expected to be published this month.
According to her, more than 95% of the text has already been discussed with members of the Constitutional Reforms Council.
Thirteen opposition political forces have united, declaring that they will oppose the process of adopting the new Constitution. They claim that these changes are being made at Azerbaijan’s demand, as it has already been announced that the text of the new Constitution will not contain a reference to the Declaration of Independence of Armenia. Azerbaijan considers the reference to the Declaration of Independence in Armenia’s Constitution to be the only obstacle to signing a peace agreement with Armenia.
The authorities, for their part, assure that Azerbaijan is not demanding and cannot demand that Armenia change its Constitution, as this is an internal matter for Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently stated that during a conversation with him, the President of Azerbaijan acknowledged that changing the Constitution is an internal matter for Armenia, but at the same time informed him that they would not sign a peace agreement with Armenia as long as the reference to the Declaration of Independence remains in Armenia’s Constitution.
The Civil Contract party does not have enough votes in parliament to put the draft of the new Constitution to a referendum. The ruling party needs six more votes to be able to put the matter to a referendum, while the opposition Strong Armenia and Armenia factions have announced that they do not intend to support the authorities on this issue.