Azerbaijan, Baku, March 18 / Trend , B.Zhavoronkova/
Referendum on amendments and additions to the Azerbaijani Constitution goes on constructively, Deputy Director of French Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Michel Voisin told Trend .
"The referendum is well-organized. The vote goes on constructively. We have visited a polling station 30 kilometers from Baku and I spoke to other observers. They also said everything goes on well," he said.
Today Azerbaijan is holding a referendum to amend 29 Articles of the Constitution.
The referendum proposes to replace the current edition of the 5th paragraph of Article 101 of the Azerbaijani Constitution, which states that "no person shall be elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for more than two consecutive terms", by an option extending incumbent President's office term in case when ongoing military operations during a war make it impossible to conduct a regular presidential election. The term of office of Azerbaijani President is 5 years. The incumbent President Ilham Aliyev was elected to the post in 2003 and 2008.
A total of 41 amendments to 29 articles are planned to be made in the Constitution. The amendments envisage postponement of parliamentary elections in case of military operations, right of legislative initiative to 40,000 voters, ban on keeping video and audio recording and photographing a person against his will, financial support to ex-presidents of Azerbaijan, as well as technical changes.
The Constitution was adopted in 1995. Amendments and additions were made in 2002.
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at [email protected]