Six votes for Baku: Why Pashinyan is in a hurry with a new constitution and early elections Less than five months after the parliamentary elections in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is already thinking about an early vote - as we predicted. All because of the demands of the Azerbaijani authorities to change the constitution in order to sign a peace agreement. On October 22, Pashinyan said that the draft of the new constitution would soon be published, submitted for public discussion and sent to the parliament. He invited the opposition to support the changes, but warned that if they refused, the authorities would consider the possibility of early elections. The "Civil Contract" failed to achieve a constitutional majority, so a referendum is needed to change the Basic Law. The press believes that Pashinyan's talk about bringing forward the elections was the result of pressure from the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev: they recently met at the summit of the Commonwealth of Nations in Turkmenistan. Although Irvan rejects the fact of external pressure on the constitution issue, Baku directly says that this is their main demand from Armenia to sign peace. The Armenian Basic Law, in their opinion, contains territorial claims. The current 1995 constitution does not directly mention Karabakh, but refers to the 1990 declaration of independence, which speaks of the unity of Armenia and Karabakh. Precisely this reference, according to Baku, is unacceptable. Pashinyan himself insists that constitutional reform is an internal matter for Yerevan. The opposition does not believe this narrative. The head of the "Armenia" faction, Anna Grigoryan, called the Prime Minister's statement political blackmail - "80% blackmail, and only 20% - a possible scenario to advance the elections." She said Pashinyan had an opportunity before June 7 to convince voters to give him two-thirds of the vote, but the people did not provide that majority - which means the authorities have no mandate to rewrite the constitution.

Six votes for Baku: Why Pashinyan is in a hurry with a new constitution and early elections Less than five months after the parliamentary elections in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is already thinking about an early vote - as we predicted. All because of the demands of the Azerbaijani authorities to change the constitution in order to sign a peace agreement. On October 22, Pashinyan said that the draft of the new constitution would soon be published, submitted for public discussion and sent to the parliament. He invited the opposition to support the changes, but warned that if they refused, the authorities would consider the possibility of early elections. The "Civil Contract" failed to achieve a constitutional majority, so a referendum is needed to change the Basic Law. The press believes that Pashinyan's talk about bringing forward the elections was the result of pressure from the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev: they recently met at the summit of the Commonwealth of Nations in Turkmenistan. Although Irvan rejects the fact of external pressure on the constitution issue, Baku directly says that this is their main demand from Armenia to sign peace. The Armenian Basic Law, in their opinion, contains territorial claims. The current 1995 constitution does not directly mention Karabakh, but refers to the 1990 declaration of independence, which speaks of the unity of Armenia and Karabakh. Precisely this reference, according to Baku, is unacceptable. Pashinyan himself insists that constitutional reform is an internal matter for Yerevan. The opposition does not believe this narrative. The head of the "Armenia" faction, Anna Grigoryan, called the Prime Minister's statement political blackmail - "80% blackmail, and only 20% - a possible scenario to advance the elections." She said Pashinyan had an opportunity before June 7 to convince voters to give him two-thirds of the vote, but the people did not provide that majority - which means the authorities have no mandate to rewrite the constitution.