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PACE special committee members to observe March 18 referendum in Azerbaijan hold meeting in parliament

16 March 2009 15:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Elbrus Seyfullayev â€“ APA. Members of the special committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that will observe the referendum in Azerbaijan on March 18 met with Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, APA reports. Head of the delegation Paul Willi said referendum caused various discussions both in Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe. Head of the delegation said there were some questions in connection with the issues put to the referendum, lifting the restriction on the election of president was one of the proposed issues.

Paul Willi also noted that the Venice Commission expressed its opinion on the amendments and annexes.

Head of Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov said the draft referendum act had been prepared in accordance with Azerbaijani legislation.
â€œThe initiative was raised in the parliament, Constitutional Court gave opinion and the parliament passed a decision to hold referendum. The draft was examined seriously,â€ he said.

Samad Seyidov underlined that the issues put to the referendum served development of Azerbaijan and its integration into Europe.
â€œThe people will have a final say. The draft is in line with the European legislation,â€ he said.

Seyidov said Azerbaijan didnâ€™t refuse to work with the Venice Commission, but Azerbaijani legislation allowed not to address the VC after the decision of the parliament.

Chairman of the parliamentâ€™s standing commission on legal policy and state-building Ali Huseynov said proposal on amendment to Article 101 of the Constitution was put forward at the parliament. â€œOther proposals were prepared at the commission. There are other important issues related to the amendments and changes. Azerbaijan is closely working with the Council of Europe and Venice Commission. The cooperation with the Venice Commission is for meeting the European Convention on Human Rights and other acts at first. We worked with the commission during the changes to the Constitution in 2002 and adoption of the law on Freedom of Assembly last year. We took into consideration the pervious opinions of the Venice Commission, as well as the European legislation in the preparation of the referendum act and didnâ€™t face with any contradiction. There was no need in special opinion and therefore we didnâ€™t address the Venice Commission. There is no recommendation in the international documents regarding the fifth part of the Article 101, but the Venice Commission is addressing this issue. The Council of Europe leadership wanted the Venice Commission to express opinion on this issueâ€.