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Armenia announces plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027

Armenia announces plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027

Aug. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Armenia’s government announced Thursday that authorities plan to hold a constitutional referendum in 2027, as part of work undertaken over the past two years by a body specially created to present a draft of proposals to amend the Constitution.

“As a result of the new agreement, the constitutional referendum is scheduled to take place in 2027,” said Armenian Justice Minister Grigor Minasian, who is also the chairman of the Judicial Reform Council.

He stressed that the body is still working and explained that over the last three months the meetings have been less intense due to the summer holiday period, as reported by the Armenian news agency Armenpress.

“We will work in detail on a complex document, with public discussions and working with all the specialists, without urgency,” he explained. The aforementioned body was created in January 2022 by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to present a document with proposals for reforming the Magna Carta.

The country held a constitutional referendum in December 2015 that changed its model of government from presidential to parliamentary, with more than 66 percent of voters voting in favour.

It also involved a reduction in the number of parliamentarians and the creation of designated seats for members of ethnic minorities, while the proportional election system was introduced to determine the composition of the National Assembly.

Minasian’s announcement comes amid Azerbaijan’s demands that Armenia reform its constitution in order to reach a peace agreement, given that the current Constitution provides for territorial claims on Azerbaijani territory that, according to Baku, make any kind of pact impossible.

The two countries have been engaged in talks for months to try to reach a peace agreement, contacts that were boosted by the last Azerbaijani military offensive in September 2023 against Nagorno-Karabakh, which led to the integration of the territory and the dissolution of the separatist authorities backed by Yerevan.

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