Appendix 1 – Presence at the constitutional referendum in
the Republic of Azerbaijan (18 March 2009)
Memorandum prepared by the Head of the
Delegation, Mr Paul Wille, Belgium, ALDE
22 April 2009
1. The Delegation of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe, comprising Mr Paul Wille (Belgium,
ALDE), Head of the Delegation, Mr Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD),
Mr Eduard Lintner (Germany, EPP/CD) and Mr Hakki Keskin (Germany,
UEL), was in Baku from 16 to 19 March 2009 to assure PACE presence
at the constitutional referendum on 18 March 2009. Representatives
of the European Democratic Group (EDG) or the Socialist Group (SOC)
of the Delegation were unfortunately not available for this mission.
2. The delegation’s statement at the end of the referendum is
set out in Appendix 1.
3. During its visit to Baku, the delegation met Mr Ilham Aliyev,
President of the Republic, Mr Ogtay Asadov, Speaker of the Milli
Mejlis, the President and members of the Constitutional Court, Mr
Mazahir Panahov, Chair of the Central Electoral Commission, the
Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, representatives
of the international community in Baku and representatives of political
parties, civil society and the media. The programme of the visit
is set out in Appendix 2. The delegation would like to thank the
Speaker of the Milli Mejlis and the staff of the Council of Europe
Office in Baku for the excellent organisation of the programme and
for the support it received.
4. The purpose of the referendum was to seek approval for a number
of amendments to the constitution, including a limited number of
major reforms and a number of minor adjustments. The changes proposed
were presented in the form of 29 questions, to which the voters
could reply either yes or no.
5. Some of the proposed amendments constituted improvements to
the current Constitution and others concerned more radical changes,
for example the end of the restriction on the terms of office of
the President of the Republic, the fact that presidential or parliamentary
elections may not be organised when military operations are taking
place during a state of war, changes to Chapter III of the Constitution
relating to fundamental rights and freedoms, and local authorities.
6. On 14 March 2009, at the request of the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe and of the Monitoring Committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly, the Venice Commission adopted an opinion
on the draft amendments submitted for referendum. In this opinion,
the Commission considers, amongst other things, that the implementation
of certain amendments to Chapter III could raise problems with regard
to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and in
respect of local authorities, the Constitution should reflect the standards
of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, ratified by Azerbaijan.
The opinion contains the comments of the Authorities of the Republic
of Azerbaijan.
7. In its conclusions, the Venice Commission acknowledged that
some of the amendments undeniably constituted major improvements
to the current Constitution and should therefore be welcomed. At
the same time, it felt that there were reasons for concern, given
the current situation in Azerbaijan. This applied mainly to the
abolition of the limit of two terms of office for the President
as this makes his position even stronger than it already is.
8. The Commission also believes that certain concerns expressed
in the opinion could lose their relevance if appropriate legislation
were enacted but that other constitutional reforms should be undertaken,
in particular to ensure a more balanced division of powers between
the different state authorities.
9. With regard to the organisation of the campaign, the Central
Electoral Commission received 14 requests for accreditation from
“campaign groups”, only 9 of which were registered; 7 groups were
finally authorised to campaign for or against the referendum. A
limited amount of time was allocated to the campaign (only 28 days). The
Central Electoral Commission had fixed three hours per week for
the referendum campaign on radio and television. Finally over 3
million copies of an explanatory document on the referendum and
its content were distributed throughout the country.
10. During the meetings with the representatives of the international
community, NGOs and the media, the strongest criticism concerned
the short time given over to public debate prior to the referendum.
For example, each group finally only had an average of 10 minutes
airtime on television to expose its views.
11. Some representatives of the opposition also challenged the
very validity of the referendum, as they considered it anti-constitutional.
As a result of this criticism, and the short deadlines and the short
time given to the various campaign groups, some of the opposition
parties finally decided to boycott the referendum.
12. On 18 March 2009, the day of the referendum, the members of
the Delegation visited several dozen polling stations in Baku. They
noted that the poll was well organised and that the members of the
polling stations were well prepared for their task. There was also
a high turnout and no incidents or demonstrations took place once
the results had been announced.
13. Finally, at its press conference, the delegation said that
the result of the referendum showed the willingness of the people
of Azerbaijan to have greater stability and elements for further
democratisation but stressed the fact that further reforms would
be required to ensure a better balance of power.
