[2] The early drafts of a new constitution were criticised by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe but amendments were made in September 2005 to address their objections.

[2] Other changes would give the President immunity from prosecution for most offences while in office, remove the requirement for a referendum to be held on any changes to the borders and make the mayoralty of Yerevan an elected post.

[7] The opposition called on voters to boycott the vote, to take part in civil disobedience and tried to use the Rose Revolution in Georgia as an example.

As the election neared the British Council sponsored a "Rock the Referendum" concert to try to increase voter interest.

[14] The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) did not send any observers as they said they had not received any invitation from the government of Armenia.

[14] The Armenian government's position was that the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights had no mandate to observe referendums.

[16] On the day of the election President Kocharyan was among the people to vote and the opposition criticised him for publicly showing his 'yes' ballot paper, which they said violated the constitution.

[12] However the official results showed a turnout of over 65% of the electorate with an overwhelming yes vote, thus easily meeting the required level.

[15] The observers from the Council of Europe reported that there were serious abuses in the referendum and said that the official turnout figures did not match reality.

[20] President Kocharyan described the result as "a great victory in the strengthening of democracy and the making of civil society in Armenia.