Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 29 / Trend , J.Babayeva/
The Central Elections Commission (CEC) expects international organizations to help get ethnic-Armenian Azerbaijani citizens on the voter lists.
"We have a serious problem at the moment as we cannot include ethnic-Armenian Azerbaijani citizens in the voter lists because the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has not been resolved. International organizations are not assisting us in this regard," CEC Secretary Natig Mammadov told Trend on Jan. 29.
There are 125 precinct election commissions. Eight include regions under occupation: Precinct Election Commission No. 118 in Agdam; No. 119 in villages outside Agdam; No. 120 in the Jabrayil-Gubadli regions; No. 121 in the Lachin region; No. 122 in the Khankandi region; No. 123 in the Kalbajar region; No. 124 in the Shusha-Fuzuli-Khojali-Khojavand regions; and No. 125 in the Zangilan-Gubadli regions.
Over 4.6 million citizens have the right to vote in Azerbaijan.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
"Although we repeatedly appealed to international organizations to help us include ethnic-Armenian Azerbaijani citizens in the voter lists, we received no answer," CEC Chairman Mazahir Panahov told journalists earlier.
International organizations said the voter lists in Azerbaijan meet a high standard, Mammadov said.
"The institution of becoming familiar with the voter lists has been improved. Voters can get acquainted with the lists over the Internet. CEC members and relevant state bodies also take measures to improve the lists," Mammadov said.
In late December, Azerbaijan's parliament passed a decision to hold a referendumon March 18 to amend 29 Articles of the Constitution.
Fourteen referendum initiative groups have been formed thus far. Four have submitted signature lists to the CEC. The CEC has registered the governing New Azerbaijan Party's (NAP) initiative group and Shahar initiative group.
The Constitution was adopted in 1995. Amendments and additions were made in 2002.
The process of specifying the referendum voter lists will take place by Feb.10. They will be posted at polling stations 35 days before the referendum.
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