Chris Back: Referendum in Azerbaijan organized very well

By  Trend

The constitutional referendum in Azerbaijan is organized very well, Chris Back, head of the Australian parliament’s observer mission, told Trend on  September 26.

It is the case that there are many safeguards in place to be able to protect the integrity of the vote, said Back.

“I have been impressed by the standards of organization,” he noted. “We have asked people in the city – have you voted today? – and many people said – yes, we have already voted.”

The referendum to make amendments to Azerbaijan’s Constitution kicked off at 08:00 and will wrap up at 19:00 (UTC/GMT +4).

The number of voters in Azerbaijan stands at 5,267,111 people, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

As many as 117 international observers – MPs from over 30 countries as well as observers from various international organizations, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) – have been accredited by Azerbaijan’s CEC to observe the referendum.

The total number of the observers is around 53,000.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order to hold a referendum on amending the Constitution on September  26.