PACE, TurkPA: Referendum in Azerbaijan transparent, smooth
By Rashid Shirinov
The September 26 referendum on amending the Azerbaijani constitution has passed smoothly, as a number of international observers in the country confirmed.
Aleksandar Nikoloski, head of the Referendum Assessment Mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), praised holding the referendum, saying that it was organized in accordance with the national legislation. He made the remarks during a press conference in Baku on September 27.
Nikoloski said that the referendum is valid, the voting process was transparent and smooth, adding that the PACE mission was invited by the Azerbaijani side.
"The September 26 referendum to amend the Azerbaijani Constitution was held without violations," Haluk Ipek, a Turkish MP and member of the observer mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking Countries (TurkPA), commented.
“The mission concluded that the referendum was held in accordance with international standards,” he added. “Equal voting conditions were created for all citizens. The referendum was organized at a high level.”
Ipek also stressed that the referendum witnessed high voter turnout.
In turn, TurkPA secretary general Jandos Asanov said that the mission which carried out short-term monitoring at the referendum, included parliamentarians from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey as well as representatives of TurkPA Secretariat.
He thanked the Azerbaijani government for the conditions created for monitoring the referendum.
The referendum to make amendments to Azerbaijan’s Constitution kicked off at 08:00 and wrapped up at 19:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) on September 26.
As many as 117 international observers – MPs from over 30 countries as well as observers from various international organizations were accredited to observe the referendum.
The total number of the observers was around 53,000. Some 3,671,707 people (69.7 percent of voters) cast their ballots at the referendum.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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