“Following the invitation of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a Delegation of the EPP - the European People`s Party, the leading political family of Europe - came to Azerbaijan to observe the Constitutional Referendum of September 26th 2016.

This Delegation is composed of 11 participants, including current and former members of the European Parliament and National Parliaments, former members of Governments of the European Union, representing 7 nationalities, all of them with experiences in other election observations.

Before polling day the Delegation visited the preparation works at some polling stations and met with the leadership of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan that presented a detailed survey of all the preparatory works both for the thorough information of the citizens as well as all the procedures foreseen for voting day. We were informed that every household received, more than a month before the vote, the full text of the 29 amendments to be voted and the comparison to the current Constitutional text. All the orders and instructions issued by the Central Election Commission have been in accordance with the good practices and international standards.

The first aspect to be highlighted is the fact that today we witnessed not 1 but 29 referendums, as the citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan could express their vote on each of the amendments, reason for which the time each voter was in the voting booth was longer than usual.

The EPP Delegation was present in the opening procedures in a polling station, and had also the opportunity to visit several others during the voting time, as well as witnessing the closing of one of them. In all places the procedures were according to international standards, the voters in need were properly assisted, the vast majority seemed well informed on the content and on the voting procedures, and the absence of any military or police officers was also noted.

After the closing of the voting, some members of our Delegation are currently observing the counting, which due to the special circumstances of this process will take also longer than usual, although the Central Election Committee has conceived an interesting speedy way.

To summon up, it is the conviction of our Delegation that the process of the Referendum on the Constitution changes in the Republic of Azerbaijan of the 26th September 2016 has been conducted in a free, open and sound process, in accordance with the best international standards, and that it will definitively express the will of the People of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the statement reads.

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