He noted that transparency and control of the referendum process in Azerbaijan is even higher than in Australia, adding that for example, in Australia, nobody asks to show IDs before voting.
Further talking about Azerbaijan, Kelly mentioned a special spray that is applied to a person’s thumb and which eliminates the possibility of multiple voting. He said that he several times tried to wash off the traces of this spray on purpose, but each time the check showed that some traces of it were left.
This once again makes it possible for a person to be sure that the referendum process is being held in an open and transparent manner, said Kelly.
He added that the observer mission from Australia visited about ten polling stations in Baku and Absheron Peninsula.
There are no queues in Azerbaijan in front of polling stations as in Australia, but people don’t cease to come, and the ballot boxes are being filled, said the member of the observation mission.
Kelly added that he was glad a lot of women are taking part in the referendum.
He said that the mission will continue its work during the day.
Kelly noted that he and his mission will visit several polling stations during the day and then at night will observe the counting of votes.
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 Sept. 26.
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