Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 10 / Trend , A.Huseynbala /
Azerbaijan's governing New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) believes the opposition's coalition against the referendum will not be efficient.
"The parties and public organizations preparing the referendum are expressing most people's thoughts," parliamentarian and NAP Deputy Executive Secretary Mubariz Gurbanli told Trend on Jan. 10.
On Jan. 9, several Azerbaijani opposition parties, and non-governmental and public organizations established the Civil Movement for the Republic and Garabag against the referendum.
In late December, Azerbaijan's parliament passed a decision to hold a referendum March 18 to amend 29 articles of the Constitution.
According to Article 152, the Constitution can only be amended via referendum. Additionally, Article 153 states that if the parliament or president proposes an amendment, the Constitutional Court must reach its own conclusions regarding the proposal before the referendum vote.
The Constitution was adopted in 1995. Amendments and additions were made in 2002.
The NAP has established the New Azerbaijan initiative group. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has issued a formal notification on registering the group.
The public will support the amendments and additions to the Constitution during the campaign, Gurbanli said.
"They will accept our campaign as the truth and vote for our proposals," he added.
As Azerbaijan is a democratic nation, any organization can form a referendum initiative group and apply to the CEC, Gurbanli said.
"But the opposition will fail due to the public's weak support for their party," Gurbanli said.
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