Constitutional reforms and a referendum are expected to follow the 2013 presidential election in Armenia, the paper has learned.

The move is reportedly aimed at replacing the presidential system with a parliamentary one.

According to the paper, this is among the rare cases that the opinions of the second and third presidents of Armenia coincide. The motivations are thought to be different. Citing sources close to Robert Kocharyan, the paper says he is not going to nominate his candidacy next year but will do everything possible to make the forces under his controle solve the issue of the prime minister, a plan that didn’t succeed in the parliamentary polls.

The constitutional reforms will enable the “newly-elected” cabinet chief to take the helm of state in 2018, by being “appointed” a prime minister in a parliamentary country, says the paper. This is why Kocharyan is leading a life-and-death battle for 2013, (though in a hidden manner), with the need of constitutional reforms being voiced by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun, not the Prosperous Armenia party, claims the paper, adding that Russia too, has its own share in the plan. As for incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, the paper says he wishes to make Prosperous Armenia a component of this game.

He reportedly told the party’s leader, Gagik Tsarukyan, about the expected reforms that could pave his way to the vice prime minister’s post. Citing its sources, the paper claims further that Tsarukyan was forced into rejecting the proposal, with the question remaining unresolved to date.