Azerbaijani Constitutional Court approves draft amendments to Constitution
By Nigar Abbasova
The Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan has approved the draft amendments to the Constitution at its meeting on July 25.
The Constitutional Court concluded that the changes proposed to the Constitution by President Ilham Aliyev are in line with the requirement of 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. The session was held with the participation of eight judges.
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 last time changes to the Constitution were made seven years ago. "The processes ongoing in the country over the past period necessitate amending the Constitution," Aliyev said.
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, said Ziyafet Askerov, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and chairman of the parliamentary committee on security and defense.
Askerov mentioned that the last time changes to the Constitution were made seven years ago. “Since then, a lot of changes have occurred in the social, political, economic and cultural life of the country.”
He further noted that the changes do not cut the power of the Parliament but offer new mechanisms for its normal operation.
Askerov expressed his confidence that the people of Azerbaijan will support the Referendum Act.
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.
It is proposed to establish first vice-president and vice-president positions in Azerbaijan. First vice-president and vice-presidents are appointed and dismissed by the president of Azerbaijan.
Also, it is proposed to remove the words “not younger than 35” in Article 100 on requirements to candidates to the post of the president of Azerbaijan: “Citizen of the Azerbaijan Republic not younger than 35, permanently living on the territory of the Azerbaijan Republic longer than 10 years, possessing voting right, without previous conviction, having no liabilities in other states, with university degree, not having double citizenship may be elected the President of the Azerbaijan Republic.”
Moreover, it is proposed to make amendments to Article 101.1 on procedure of election of the president of Azerbaijan, according to which it is planned to extend the office term of the president from 5 years to 7 years.
At the same time, it is proposed to add the following words to Article 101.1: “Azerbaijan’s president can 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.
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