Constitutional Referendum in Azerbaijan: International Community Highlights the Content, not Form of Electoral Process

• 09.30.2016, 18:22
•  Region,  World

Aziz Karimov / Reuters

On December 26 in Azerbaijan a referendum on national constitutional amendments was held, in the result of which citizens gave the Azerbaijani president the right to dissolve the parliament, support the extension of president’s term of office. Besides the office of the vice-president was formed and age requirements of a candidate for the office of president were lowered.

According to the results of the exit poll, that was held by the American "Arthur Filkenshteyn and Association" company, 87.3% of the voters approved the proposed changes of the country's executive infrastructure.

As TASS informs, Ali Akhmedov, a deputy leader of the ruling Eni Azerbaijan (New Azerbaijan) party, told journalists that "the referendum was a test of national confidence to President Ilham Aliyev. The test was successful and the voter turnout at the referendum has demonstrated a popular support to the presidential policy."

However, the opposition has quite a different point of view. Besides the fact that international observers, including the EU and PACE, positively assessed the voting process, recognizing the results as legitimate, Azerbaijani opposition, nevertheless, refused to recognize the outcome of the referendum. So, the national council of democratic forces called on people not to put up with the declared results and to fight for their cancelation.

Ulvi Hasanli, a board member of the youth movement NIDA told that "the amendments are intended to perpetuate the power of the Aliyevs.  It is clear that they are already preparing the throne for Heydar Aliyev junior." According to him, they turn the republic into a monarchy, where power passes from father to son. A third generation of the Aliyevs is the worst that could happen to the country.

The opposition believes, that besides the fact that Central Electoral Commission declared about the 70 % of participation, in fact thousands of people took part in these protests. Although the rallies were sanctioned by the municipality, police detained dozens of activists both before and after the events. Furthermore, during the referendum, independent media reported about the electoral fraud, including videos that showed an evidence of ballot stuffing, carousel voting and voting of persons without registration.  

There is a need to mention, that Azerbaijani Diaspora is also dissatisfied with the results of referendum. On September 26 in Tbilisi in front of the Embassy of Azerbaijan a group of citizens held a protest action carrying in their hands the slogan "People don't want a king" and the photos оf some political prisoners.

What regards the viewpoint of international observers; they positively assessed the process of referendum, but not the implementation process of constitutional amendments. The PACE mission regretted that Baku didn't take into account the assessment of Venice Commission regarding the package of the amendments.

International observers also called on Azerbaijani authorities to start a dialogue with the representatives of the opposition, emphasizing the fact that during the referendum preparatory stage, there was an absence of discussions and debates. The PACE mission also expressed a concern over the fact before the referendum there has begun a criminal prosecution against some activists.

Anyway, the experience of recurrent establishment of Aliyev' s clan can be considered successful even in terms of the international community response, because unlike previous cases the implementation of constitutional amendments was not subjected to criticism.