The US remains committed to helping Azerbaijanis build a stronger democracy and encourage political transparency and dialogue within the country.

This was stated by the US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner at a briefing on Tuesday, commenting on the results of the constitutional referendum held in Azerbaijan September 26.

“I think our focus is on how do we improve the institutions and how do we improve or work with the Azerbaijani people and government to improve the process, the democratic process”, – as stated in the text of Toner’s speech at the briefing, posted on the State Department website.

“ It’s not for us to dictate what the outcome of that democratic process may or may not be, except to say that where there are irregularities they should be investigated, where there are glitches in the process they should be looked at and improved”, –  Toner added.

He also noted that the referendum in Azerbaijan came off without any security incidents.

According to preliminary data, more than 80% of citizens who voted supported the introduction of 29 amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan. According to the CEC, the activity of citizens during the whole voting process was 69.7%.

The observation mission of PACE on Tuesday announced that a referendum on amendments to the Azerbaijani Constitution was held in accordance with national law and the Constitution of Azerbaijan and recognized as legal and legitimate.

PACE has not recorded any serious irregularities in the counting of votes.

Jelena Ostapenko

Source: 1news.az