Azerbaijan to hold Constitutional Referendum

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zerbaijan will hold a referendum on amendments to the country’s constitution on September 26. Constitutional amendments are currently at the forefront of agenda in Azerbaijan. The Constitutional Court of the country has recently approved draft amendments to the Constitution.

The Court concluded that the changes proposed to the Constitution by President Ilham Aliyev are in line with the Constitution of Azerbaijan.

Farhad Abdullayev, chairman of the Azerbaijani Constitutional Court, said that the proposed changes do not contradict the articles of the constitution and may be put up for a nationwide vote, according to the decision.

Earlier, Shahin Aliyev, head of the department on legislation and legal expertise at the Presidential Administration said that the ongoing developments in the country require injecting amendments to the Constitution.

"The processes ongoing in the country over the past period necessitate amending the Constitution," Aliyev said.

The referendum merely needs 25 percent turnout of voters to be passed. The last constitutional referendum in the country was held on March 18, 2009.

President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on submitting the draft Referendum Act "On Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan” to the Constitutional Court on July 18. The amendments propose to introduce positions of first vice-president and vice-president in Azerbaijan. The changes envisage that these appointments will be made by the president of the country. It is also proposed to eliminate the minimum age limit for a presidential candidate, which is now set at 35 years and to extend the office term of the president from 5 years to 7 years. The changes also envisage that the president will be able to declare extraordinary election of the president of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, the following amendments have been proposed:

To replace “within three months” with “during the period of 60 days “in Article 105 on implementation of powers of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic on his resignation: “Whenever the President of the Azerbaijan Republic resigns from his post ahead of time, extraordinary elections of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic are held within three months.”

To replace “prime minister” with “first vice-president” in the following sentence: “In such case, until new President of the Azerbaijan Republic is elected, the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Republic will carry out powers of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic.”

To replace “prime minister” with “first vice-president in the second part of this article: “If during the said term the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Republic carrying out powers of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic resigns, becomes incapable of carrying out his powers due to illness, Chairman of Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan Republic will carry out powers of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic.”

At the same time, according to the amendments to this article, if the first vice-president resigns, becomes incapable of carrying out his powers due to illness, vice-president of Azerbaijan gets the status of the first vice-president and carries out duties of the president.

Additionally, according to the proposed amendments, persons who have the right to participate in the elections (at the age of 18) can be elected to Milli Majlis. Previously, persons no younger than 25, had the right to be elected to the parliament.

It is also proposed to add an article on dissolution of parliament, rights to conclude interstate and intergovernmental international agreements, responsibilities of municipalities and others.

Meanwhile, members of the ruling New Azerbaijan (YAP) party addressing a nationwide meeting of chairpersons of municipal and district organizations of the party said that the proposed changes will lead to further strengthening of provision of human rights and freedom in the country, as well as improvement of the activity of democratic institutions and executive system in whole. It was mentioned that the proposed changes are in line with the development concept of democracy in Azerbaijan.

Highlighting the issue Ziyafet Askerov, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and chairman of the parliamentary committee on security and defense said that the referendum is of great importance for the improvement of the state governing system, strengthening of state authorities as well as for the protection of human rights and liberty.

“After the last referendum held in Azerbaijan seven years ago, the country’s public, political, socio-economic and cultural life has changed considerably,” he said.

Asgarov emphasized that the draft Referendum Act submitted by the President do not cut the power of the Parliament but offer new mechanisms for its proper functioning.

“The president is empowered to dissolve the parliament in case of emergency so that parliament is not paralyzed. The draft act envisages the cases in which the parliament can be dissolved,” he added. Nevertheless, the vice-speaker added that he doesn’t suppose the parliament to be dissolved in near future. Askerov also expressed his confidence that the people of Azerbaijan will support the Referendum Act.