Friday, July 24 2015 11:39

 46% of Armenia citizens deem the Constitutional reforms in Armenia necessary, Aram Navasardyan, the head of the GALLUP International Ђssociation representation in Armenia, said during the presentation of the poll results on constitutional reforms. 

According to him, only 45% of pollees were aware of the reforms. Navasardyan says that 46% of pollees believe constitutional reforms to be necessary, 16% were at loss to answer, while 38% do not find it necessary to carry out a referendum. 

According to the expert, 26% of the pollees had no idea of the current government system in Armenia, while 74% claimed to be aware of the system. The expert says that 40% of those "aware" ones claim that the current government system in Armenia is hybrid. 11% say it is parliamentary and 46% say it is presidential.  

The expert says that 44% of the respondents are against changes in government system, 24% do favour those changes, while 32% have not made up their minds.  

To note, the poll was conducted throughout Armenia in the period of May 5-13 - 1105 people participated in the poll. 

The draft constitutional reforms initiated by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan imply a switch to a parliamentary regime. According to the new draft Constitution, the President is elected by a board consisting of parliamentarians and representatives of local administrations. The President shall be non-partisan and can be elected for one term only.  The presidential term is prolonged from 5 to 7 years, and the period of the presidential candidates' citizenship and permanent residence in Armenia is reduced from 10 to 7 years. According to the new draft Constitution, the Prime Minister becomes the commander-in-chief in the times of war. The Prime Minister is appointed within 3 days after the launch of the newly elected Parliament's activities. The number of the ministries is not to exceed 18. The Parliament is formed by means of proportional elections in two rounds and consists of at least 101 members.