Azerbaijan, Baku, March 18 / Trend , cor. A.Hüseynbala /
The Azerbaijani Press Council has received no complaint from journalists who highlight or observe the referendum vote on the Constitutional amendments, Press Council chairman Aflatun Amashov told Trend .
"I monitored a vote in some polling stations in Nizami district of Baku. Journalists did not complain of any irregularities," Amashov said.
Amashov said members of the council's Board and Monitoring Group are monitoring a vote in the capital and regions. "A hot line at the council has received no complaint thus far," he said.
Azerbaijani Press Council has opened a hot line on the referendum. The telephone numbers (012) 561 80 37 and (012) 561 82 46 have operated since early morning.
Today Azerbaijan is holding referendum to amend 29 articles of the Constitution.
The referendum was initiated by the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. 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.
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