The Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Ilyas Umakhanov will lead a mission of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly observers at the forthcoming constitutional referendum in Azerbaijan. The senator told Vestnik Kavkaza about how the vote on constitutional initiatives in the republic is being evaluated in Russia.
"The referendum is the highest form of expression of the people's will, and in this respect, it deserves every encouragement and support as a way to find out what people think about the proposed changes in the state, especially when it comes to the changes related to the constitutional rights of citizens," he noted in the first place.
Ilyas Umakhanov praised the pioneering initiative of the abolition of the age requirement for taking offices in all the branches of government. "I do not see anything wrong with lowering the age level of the Azerbaijani citizens for nomination of candidates to the Milli Majlis. It is quite obvious that the population is getting younger. Today there is a completely different level of young people's education, any high school student can discuss any political subject," the senator explained.
He also drew attention to how easy the institute of Vice President was introduced in Azerbaijan. "Many countries, including those with traditional democracies, which have institutions of the President and Vice President, insure an additional governing power. I think the referendum will be also a vote of confidence in the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, and I am more than confident that these proposals will receive the support of the overwhelming majority of Azerbaijani citizens," the Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council stressed.
"The CIS Interparliamentary Assembly at the invitation of the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan's Milli Majlis is planning to send a mission to the referendum, and I was requested to lead it. The mission will include representatives of a number of CIS countries. We believe that the referendum will be held at a high organizational and political level, in compliance with of the international standards, in accordance with the rule of law and those rules which are generally recognized in Europe and, in particular, by the Council of Europe," Ilyas Umakhanov concluded.
