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Azerbaijan's constitutional court approves draft amendments to constitution

Xinhua, July 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Azerbaijani constitutional court at a session on Monday approved draft amendments to the country's constitution that were proposed by President Ilham Aliyev on July 18, including the establishment of the institute of vice presidency.

The court concluded that the proposed amendments do not contradict the Azerbaijani constitution and may be put for public vote.

The draft referendum act "On Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan" provides for the amendments of 29 articles of the constitution.

The main notable amendment to the constitution is the establishment of the Institute of Vice Presidency in Azerbaijan. "The vice president of the Azerbaijan Republic shall be appointed from among citizens of the Azerbaijan Republic possessing the voting right, with a university degree, and having no liabilities in other states," the amendment reads.

"When the president leaves the office, his powers are proposed to be transferred to the first vice-president, if he is absent, to the prime minister or to the chairman of Milli Majlis (parliament) in the order given. At the same time, during the term of office, the vice-president of the Azerbaijan Republic shall have personal immunity," it added.

The amendments also provide for the removal of the presidency age limit from the constitution and an extension of the presidency term from five years to seven years.

Under the current constitution, there are such requirements for presidential candidates as not being younger than thirty five, permanently living in Azerbaijan for more than 10 years, etc. Now it is proposed to remove the age limit from the constitution.

Another proposed change to the constitution is reduction of the age limit for becoming a member of the parliament from 25 to 18.

It is also proposed to add an article on dissolution of parliament, rights to conclude interstate and intergovernmental international agreements, responsibilities of municipalities and others.

Azerbaijan's constitution was adopted on Nov. 12, 1995. It was first amended through referendum on Aug. 24, 2002 and last time on March 18, 2009.

The amendments introduced in 2002 were the establishment of the post of prime minister as the second person in the country after the president and the abolition of the proportional election system.

The amendments made to the constitution in 2009 enabled unlimited re-election of the president, although until then, there was a two-term presidency limit in Azerbaijan like in many other countries. Endi