He noted, the assessment mission’s statement on referendum is a normal document.
“The statement describes the situation as it is. However, it has a particular issue I’m concerned by. I have to say this. But as for the information that refutes the issue I’m concerned by, we received it after writing the statement. It has to do with some activists who were detained during a protest. We have stated in the statement that some of them were released. But this information is old. We then received information from the Justice Ministry that all of them were freed. We did not manage to correct this issue, which was a technical mistake. So the statement says ‘some of the activists’ were released. As the PACE co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan, I will mention this positive step in the report of the next fact-finding mission. But I hope first of all this unfortunate mistake will be eventually withdrawn from the final observation report proposed to the PACE Bureau meeting on October 10,” he said.
He noted that the main purpose of the mission is to monitor the referendum.
“We had very important meetings with representatives of NGOs and media outlets, opposition members, as well as the country’s leadership, members of parliament and the CEC chairman,” said Preda.
The referendum was well-organized, he added.
“I think the population of Baku and other districts was well aware of the referendum. My observations show this and I have asked a few people, they confirmed it,” he said. “We did not come here to look for flaws, there are shortcomings in all countries.”
The referendum to make amendments to Azerbaijan’s Constitution kicked off at 8:00 am and wrapped up at 7:00 pm Sept. 26.
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) – were accredited by Azerbaijan’s CEC to observe the referendum.
The total number of the observers was around 53,000.
According to Azerbaijan’s Election Code, the referendum was declared valid
`Hope this mistake will be withdrawn from PACE mission’s final report on Azerbaijani referendum`
27 September 2016
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Hope this unfortunate mistake will be eventually withdrawn from the final observation report of the PACE mission proposed to the Bureau meeting on October 10, PACE co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan Cezar Florin Preda, who is a member of the assessment mission for the Azerbaijani referendum, told.
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