Azerbaijan, Baku, 11 Dec / Trend corr. I.Alizade/ The Azerbaijani Parliamentary first vice-speaker supports removal of article, banning one person to be elected president more than twice, from the Constitution.
"Elction belongs to the nation and this limitation should be removed," Ziyafat Asgarov, the vice-speaker of the parliament, told Trend on 11 Dec.
According to Item 5 of Article 101 of Azerbaijani Constitution, one person can not run for presidency more than twice. The term of presidential office is five years.
The governing New Azerbaijan Party proposes to remove the above-mentioned Article from the Constitution by referendum.
"The Article in the Constitution banning one person to be elected president more than twice is not consistent with democratic principles and restricts democracy," MP Siyavush Novruzov, deputy executive secretary of NAP, said to Trend in his previous interview.
NAP official said the Constitution must not include such a restriction. "The Constitution allows one person to be elected MP as many times as he/she wants while there is a limit on the number of presidential terms. We think it is wrong to have such a restriction in the Constitution. The Constitution needs changes and we will initiate it," Novruzov added.
Chairman of the Constitutional Court Farhad Abdullayev has stated that this issue can be solved through referendum.
Asgarov said that if the parliament discusses this issue, he would support prolongation of president's office term as the vice-speaker.
"Removal of the article banning one person to be elected president more than twice from the Constitution does not contradict democracy," Asgarov added.
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