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Azerbaijanis overwhelmingly approve constitutional amendments
Baku (Azerbaijan) Aug 25: Azerbaijani voters overwhelmingly approved proposed changes to the Constitution, election officials said today, a day after a referendum that the opposition said was marred by fraud.
Baku (Azerbaijan) Aug 25: Azerbaijani voters
overwhelmingly approved proposed changes to the Constitution,
election officials said today, a day after a referendum that
the opposition said was marred by fraud.
With 83 per cent of the ballots counted, each of the amendments was supported by more than 96 per cent of voters, said Igbal Babayev, director of the country's vote-counting system. The system registered turnout of 88.43 per cent among Azerbaijan's 4.4 million voters. Final results were expected to be announced later this week.
President Geidar Aliev went ahead with the referendum despite calls from the opposition and the US state department to postpone it to allow voters to be better informed about the issues. Aliev has said the changes, which among other things would change the way the parliament and the president are elected, are needed to bring the constitution up to western standards. Opposition groups boycotted the vote, saying the alterations would hurt democracy. They maintain that the real purpose of the changes is to lay the groundwork for a transfer of power from Aliev, who is 79 and frail after 1999 heart surgery, to his son Ilhan, who is first vice president of the oil-rich former soviet republic's state oil company.
Ilhan Aliev yesterday denied such plans and the president -twice elected in votes criticised as fraudulent - reiterated that he plans to run for a third term. Among the key changes approved in the referendum was an amendment allowing the president to be elected by a simple majority, rather than two-thirds of the vote.
Bureau Report
With 83 per cent of the ballots counted, each of the amendments was supported by more than 96 per cent of voters, said Igbal Babayev, director of the country's vote-counting system. The system registered turnout of 88.43 per cent among Azerbaijan's 4.4 million voters. Final results were expected to be announced later this week.
President Geidar Aliev went ahead with the referendum despite calls from the opposition and the US state department to postpone it to allow voters to be better informed about the issues. Aliev has said the changes, which among other things would change the way the parliament and the president are elected, are needed to bring the constitution up to western standards. Opposition groups boycotted the vote, saying the alterations would hurt democracy. They maintain that the real purpose of the changes is to lay the groundwork for a transfer of power from Aliev, who is 79 and frail after 1999 heart surgery, to his son Ilhan, who is first vice president of the oil-rich former soviet republic's state oil company.
Ilhan Aliev yesterday denied such plans and the president -twice elected in votes criticised as fraudulent - reiterated that he plans to run for a third term. Among the key changes approved in the referendum was an amendment allowing the president to be elected by a simple majority, rather than two-thirds of the vote.
Bureau Report