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Armenia to hold referendum on constitutional reform

"Do you agree with the draft amendments to the Constitution of Armenia?" - that’s the question the voters will have to answer

© ITAR-TASS/Zurab Javakhadze

YEREVAN, December 6. /TASS/. Citizens of Armenia will express in a referendum on Sunday their attitude to the constitutional reform, in accordance to which the country is to go over to the parliamentary form of government. "Do you agree with the draft amendments to the Constitution of Armenia?" - that’s the question the voters will have to answer.

The voting will take place on December 6 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time (from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Moscow Time). A total of 1,997 polling stations have been formed in the capital Yerevan and across the country within 41 constituencies. The whole process will take place under the supervision of the Central Election Commission, which, in conformity with law, is also the Central Commission for the referendum.

According to the country’s National Statistics Service, Armenia population is 3,400,000 people (as of October 1), and 2,550,323 people are eligible for voting. The monitoring missions from several countries and international organizations, including the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), have arrived in Armenia.

The amendments to the Constitution have been initiated by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. After forwarding the draft reform to legislators, he held a series of consultations with most political parties of the country. According to Sargsyan, the reform "will make cooperation between different branches of government more effective, establish the basis for the country’s more intensive economic development, increase the level of human rights protection and boost the institutional role of the opposition.".

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