PACE mission to assess constitutional referendum in Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is to send a seven-member assessment mission, headed by Aleksandr Nikoloski to the September 26 referendum on amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan, following an invitation from the country’s authorities.

The PACE reported that the delegation is due to meet the president of Azerbaijan, the speaker of Parliament (the Milli Majlis), the head of the Central Electoral Commission and members of Azerbaijan’s delegation to PACE, as well as civil society and media representatives.

 On the day of the referendum, members will be present in polling stations.

The delegation is composed of Andrea Rigoni (Italy), Yanaki Stoilov (Bulgaria), Antonio Gutierrez (Spain), Dominik Tarczynski (Poland), Stefan Schennach (Austria), and Cezar Florin Preda (Romania).

September 26, 2016, was set as the date for the referendum on proposed changes to the constitution of Azerbaijan.

The Electoral Code of Azerbaijan indicates that the day of the popular vote should be non-working.

In a bill recently sent to the Constitutional Court, President Ilham Aliyev proposed amendments to 29 Articles of Azerbaijan’s current constitution. The changes envisage the extension of the presidential term from five to seven years, the establishment of the first vice-president and vice-president positions in the country as well as the abolishment of minimum age limit for presidential candidates, dissolution of parliament by the president.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has so far registered 846 observers for the upcoming referendum. The district polling stations have registered 37,429 observers.

Final results of the Referendum will be announced until October 21.

The last time changes to the Constitution were made seven years ago, following Constitutional referendum held in 2009.