Armenia: Pashinyan intends to hold constitutional referendum in October

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced his intention to hold a referendum on the transition from parliamentary system of government to a semi-presidential one.

"We intend to hold a referendum in October either to adopt a new Constitution or make amendments [to the existing one] that will take us from a parliamentary system of government to a semi-presidential one," Pashinyan told supporters on Monday, March 1.

According to him, the new system of government will guarantee stability in the country and will exclude "internal political crises" in the future.

Pashinyan staged a major rally in downtown Yerevan on the 13th anniversary of the tragic March 1 events. The opposition led by Vazgen Manukyan too summoned supporters to a demonstration in front of the building of the National Assembly in the center of Yerevan.

The PM came under fire after signing a statement with the Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents to end the war in Karabakh after almost 45 days. Under the deal, the Armenian side was forced to return all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.