- Title: AZERBAIJAN: AZERIS PREPARE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM.
- Date: 24th August 2002
- Summary: (W8) BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (AUGUST 23, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TOP VIEW OF BAKU/ MOSQUE/ OIL PLATFORMS IN THE CASPIAN SEA 2. VIEW OF CENTRAL STREETS, CARPET SHOPS 3. MEN STANDING OUTSIDE SHOP 4. CARPET DEPICTING IMAGE OF AZERI PRESIDENT HAYDAR ALIYEV 5. MAN HOLDING BUST OF PRESIDENT ALIYEV 6. CENTRAL STREET/
- Embargoed: 8th September 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN
- Country: Azerbaijan
- Reuters ID: LVA9KXSJ4N3ZG2EELUE9XYSWYUB0
- Story Text: People in the ex-Soviet state of Azerbaijan are due to
vote in a constitutional referendum that may give the
country's veteran leader a free hand to chose his own
successor. President Haydar Aliyev, 79, has told Azeris the
proposed constitutional changes will ensure stability for the
oil-rich state. But opposition groups have roundly condemned
the poll and have urged people not to vote.
In the Azeri capital Baku, final preparations were
being made on Friday (August 23) for the planned referendum
set to take place on Saturday (August 24).
Polling stations were being readied, but there was none of
the anticipation or excitement that usually accompanies an
important national ballot.
Opinions on the streets of Baku were divided about the
purpose and the validity of upcoming referendum.
One young woman said she would not cast her vote. "No,
there are certain things (about the proposed poll) that I
don't like, so no, I won't (vote)."
"It is necessary to have such a referendum. I think many
people will go out to say 'Yes'," said one male voter.
In final campaigning ahead of the vote, President Aliyev
urged his people on Thursday (August 22) to hand him victory
in the referendum that will tighten his grip on power and
leave him placed to name his son as his successor.
Aliyev says the vote will fine-tune the oil-rich country's
seven-year-old constitution and bring it into line with
international conventions which Baku has ratified.
The ailing leader has been seeking to further the
political fortunes of his 40-year-old son, Ilgam, who is
deputy head of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan (New Azerbaijan)
party and first vice-president of the state oil company.
Opposition parties, which have urged Azeris to boycott the
poll, protested in Baku earlier this week, demanding that
Aliyev, a former member of the Soviet Union's ruling
politburo, step down.
The proposed amendments to Azerbaijan's 1995 constitution
will allow Aliyev to transfer power to a chosen successor,
which the opposition widely expects to be his son.
One of the amendments will change the Azeri election
system to make it harder for smaller parties to win seats in
parliament. Another will lower the threshold for victory in a
presidential election from 75 percent of the vote to 50
percent.
Crucially, under another proposed amendment, the prime
minister will become officially the second most powerful
person in the hierarchy, who stands in if the president is
unable to govern, instead of the parliamentary speaker as now.
As the prime minister is named by the president, unlike
the speaker who is chosen by parliament, this means Aliyev
will be able to make his son his legal stand-in by making him
premier.
This is all the more relevant since Aliyev, referred to as
"Baba" (grandfather) by many of his compatriots, has become
increasingly frail since undergoing heart by-pass surgery in
1999.
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