Several procedures of upcoming constitutional referendum completed

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

Azerbaijan has completed a number of procedures related to the upcoming constitutional referendum on September 20.

September 20 is the deadline for respective constituencies to submit the applications to monitor the elections on the territory of the constituency to the District Election Commission.

In addition, the transfer process of the ballots to the district election commission by the CEC is also completed on September 20.

About 5,280,924 ballots were printed in connection with the referendum.

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.