Ishkhan Saghatelian said his main opposition Hayastan alliance and its allies would “do everything” to turn a possible referendum on the constitution into a popular vote of no confidence in Pashinian.
“Ten days ago, we began virtually daily meetings with our fellow citizens in various regions and towns to explain all those dangers that will emerge in the event of a constitutional referendum,” Saghatelian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“We will not sit idly and we will soon work with our people on a larger scale,” he said. “In my view, they [the authorities] are trying to examine the public mood and they will make a final decision [to hold the referendum] only if they feel that they will succeed. Through our work, we need to make sure they realize that it’s impossible.”
“If the constitutional referendum does take place, we will do everything to turn it into a referendum of no confidence in Nikol Pashinian. This is a case where we see a real possibility of a broad-based consolidation of Armenia’s opposition camp,” added Saghatelian.
Pashinian declared last month that Armenia needs a new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. Analysts believe that he first and foremost wants to get rid of a preamble to the current constitution that makes reference to a 1990 declaration of independence adopted by the republic’s first post-Communist parliament. The declaration in turn cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on February 1 that Armenia should remove that reference if it wants to cut a peace deal with his country. Armenian opposition leaders portrayed Aliyev’s statement as further proof that Pashinian is planning to change the constitution at the behest of Baku.
Pashinian has denied the opposition claims while saying that Armenia “will never have peace” as long as it sticks to the 1990 declaration. His critics maintain that his appeasement policy will not stop Azerbaijan from demanding further Armenian concessions and resorting to military action for that purpose.