All Change in Armenia

The headline from Armenia following a much-disputed referendum on 6 December 2015 was that the country has a new constitution and would soon have a parliamentary system of government. But more people were paying attention to the short-term politics than to the long-term implications of the vote.

That was hardly surprising. The new constitution adopted in the referendum was a massive overhaul of the previous 2005 version, with only two articles surviving intact. There was no obvious need for such a big change.

In this instance, President Serzh Sargsyan’s evident motivation for holding a referendum was to be able to change the game to secure his own political survival.

Wikipedia: Armenian constitutional referendum, 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_constitutional_referendum,_2015

BBC News, 07.12.15: Armenia fraud claims mar referendum on constitution http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35025853

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