Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian's stand on the constitutional reforms and the party members' possible participation in the consultations with the President is in tune with the Heritage Party's stand, Armen Martirosyan, Deputy Head of the Heritage Party, has told ArmInfo, when commenting on the rumors that during the talk with Raffi Hovannisian on Skype most of the Heritage members did not understand what Hovannisian said.
Martirosyan said that the key obstacle for participation in the consultations on constitutional reforms is the provision about the territorial integrity of Armenia. Heritage considers that provision to be "the most dangerous item" in the draft Constitution. The matter concerns Article 204. Initially it applied to Armenia's membership in supranational international organizations, however, the specialized commission for constitutional reforms has edited the article, which now says, "The problem of territorial integrity of Armenia is settled through a referendum."
Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that during the session of the Heritage Party's Board, a decision was taken to reject the President's invitation, because the new draft Constitution was unacceptable to the party. In particular, the matter concerns the provisions related to the parliamentary elections in two rounds and accession to integration structures. The draft constitution does not reflect Heritage's proposals on the reforms either. In the meantime, Martirosyan does not rule out possible cooperation with the You Won't Pass It movement that comes out against the constitutional reforms.
To recall, on August 20, the Commission for Constitutional Reforms approved the draft constitutional reforms and the rationale, and then submitted them to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. On August 21, Serzh Sargsyan submitted the draft reforms for consideration of the Parliament. The President held consultations with the representatives of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Orinats Yerkir Party, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, Pan-Armenian National Movement, Free Democrats Party, Christian Democratic Union. The Armenian National Congress and Heritage Party rejected the invitation to attend the consultations.