Despite not having the numbers in parliament to amend the constitution, Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party has confirmed that the new constitution would not reference the Declaration of Independence — an Azerbaijani precondition for the signing of the peace treaty.  The opposition has accused Civil Contract of rewriting Armenia’s founding document at Baku’s demand.

Armenia’s constitution references the Declaration of Independence in its preamble, which in turn was ‘based’ on a joint decision made by Soviet Armenia’s Supreme Council and the Nagorno-Karabakh National Council on the ‘reunification’ of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan has repeatedly demanded that the constitution be changed to remove that clause, and has said no peace treaty can be signed until then.

Civil Contract does not have the number of seats needed to launch a constitutional referendum.

During Wednesday’s session, Civil Contract MP Arusyak Julhakyan, who also serves on the Constitutional Council, which is tasked with drafting a new constitution, confirmed the Declaration of Independence would be removed.

She did not clarify if the council that was established by Pashinyan in 2025 had already discussed or voted on that matter. Other Council members refused to talk about it, saying they have not seen the text of the draft yet. The government has said that it still intends to publish the full text by the end of the year.

Kristine Vardanyan, an opposition MP from Armenia Alliance, criticised the initiative, saying that the whole process is to make a constitution tailored for Aliyev.

‘Pashinyan accused all previous governments of tailoring the constitution to fit them; he initiated tailoring the constitution to Aliyev’s taste, but he wants to make you his accomplices’, said Vardanyan, addressing Civil Contract MP’s.

The head of the Armenia Alliance faction, Anna Grigoryan, reiterated that Civil Contract lacked the mandate to push it through — Civil Contract holds only 64 seats, short of the 70 required for a two-thirds majority to put a new constitutional text to a referendum — arguing that voters did not endorse constitutional change in the June elections.

The leader of the Strong Armenia faction, Narek Karapetyan, was more direct, comparing the removal of the reference to burning the country’s birth certificate.

In response to the criticism and lack of mandate, Civil Contract MP Eduard Aghajanyan defended their move, stating that the party’s public positioning to end the ‘Karabakh movement’, coupled with their electoral victory, demonstrated that voters support the change.