Azerbaijan ready for constitutional referendum - Central Elections Commission

Azerbaijan is ready for a referendum on constitutional amendments due to be held on September 26, chairman of Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazakhir Panakhov said.


"All conditions have been created at all the 5,627 polling station that will be opened in Azerbaijan to allow citizens use their constitutional right. In technical terms, all polling stations are 100 percent ready for tomorrow's voting," he said, adding that the Central Election Commission has done a lot of work to inform the voters about the meaning of the would-be constitutional amendments.


"Voters are well-informed about the essence of amendments to be voted on to make an informed choice," he stressed.


He said voting will be organized in 125 constituencies across the country. There are 5,267,111 eligible voters in Azerbaijan. A total of 38 polling stations will be opened outside the country, including three in Russia - in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.


According to Panakhov, the voting will be monitored by 117 foreign observers representing 33 countries and a number of international organizations, such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and institute dealing with electoral practices. The number of local observers exceeds 53,000. Journalists from 16 foreign mass media outlets have accredited to highlight the polling.


Constitutional amendments were initiated by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who suggested the constitution be supplemented by six more provisions, along with amendments to article 23. Thus, it is initiated to extend the presidential office term from five to seven years. Apart from that, it is suggested that a provision saying that a candidate for Azerbaijani president cannot be younger than 35 be excluded.


The draft provides for the introduction of the posts of first vice president and vice president. It also envisages a new provision vesting the president with a right to dissolve the national parliament and declare early elections of the head of state. The document also brings down the age of candidacy for seats in parliament from 25 to 18.


The current constitution was adopted in Azerbaijan in November 1995. Since then, the country held two constitutional referendums - in 2002 and in 2009.

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