CEM&DT head: Azerbaijani referendum cannot be regarded democratic

Anar Mamedli, head of the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training (CEM&DT), told journalists today that violations and deficiencies in the course of the referendum held on March 18 in Azerbaijan evidence it failed to meet European practice and cannot be regarded free and democratic.

"Same as previous elections, the March 18 referendum failed to ensure the rights to the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of press and agitation. During the whole pre-election campaign, the opponents of the referendum were repressed and persecuted, and the electorate was under pressure," Mr Mamedli said.

According to the CEM&DT head, the long-term observers who cooperate with this NGO were monitoring the campaign and the course of the referendum in 81 constituencies (in total, Azerbaijan had 125 of them). Besides, short-term CEM&DT observers monitored the voting and vote tabulation at 455 polling stations (in total, the country had 5367 of them) in the territory of 116 constituencies.

In the course of the voting, as Mr Mamedli has noted, cases "of intervention of aliens into the voting process and throw-in of faked ballot papers into boxes" were registered.

According to CEM&DT observers, at most 43 percent of listed voters appeared at the stations, which strongly differs from the official data. Twelve observers of the organization experienced pressure at the polling stations.

Today, the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) mission gave its assessment of the referendum. The statement of the PACE delegation sticks to the opinion that "it would be desirable that, prior to putting on the referendum, the offered amendments could be examined by the CE's Venetian Commission." At the same time, the delegation believes it legitimate to hold referendum on "such important issues."

"Despite the complexity of the referendum, the voting process was transparent, nicely organized and held calmly," the statement further asserts.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today its statement on the referendum was made by the CIS observation mission. 53 observers from CIS countries visited polling stations in 12 cities and districts of the country and fixed no violations.

Let us note here that the Civil Movement "For Karabakh and Republic" (CMKR) believes that March 18 referendum on amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan failed. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that the CMKR Preliminary Conclusion on the Referendum promulgated today states that voter turnout was no more than 15 percent, much lower that the 25 percent required for the quorum.

We remind you that, apart from lifting restrictions for electing one and the same person as president for more than two terms in a row, the amendments to the Constitution refer to a possibility to postpone presidential and parliamentary elections, if the country is engaged in warfare, renaming of certain executive bodies, ban on employment kids under 15, and prohibition of video and photo filming or audio recording against the will of the object; a series of amendments offered to the Constitution has to do with municipalities.

According to the "Elections" information system of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), as of 2:00 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. Moscow time) on March 19, 99 percent of protocols from polling station were processed (5361 out of 5367). For all the 29 amended Articles of the Constitution, the data varies from 87 to 92 percent of votes.