Azerbaijan 1995
On August 31, 1991, Azerbaijan adopted a declaration of independence from the USSR. Shortly thereafter, in September, Ayaz Mutalibov was elected president. On October 18, Azerbaijan's Supreme Soviet formally declared the country an independent state. While the Act of Independence was considered the foundation for a new constitution, in the face of many crises, the country continued to operate under its 1978 Soviet constitution.
Political turbulence stalled the plans for a new constitution. Beginning in 1988, while still republics of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan and Armenia had been at war over control of the Nagorno-Karabagh region entirely within the territory of Muslim Azerbaijan, but inhabited by 180,000 Christian Armenians. On March 6, 1992, after all night demonstrations in front of his office about his handling of this conflict, Mutalibov resigned. On June 7, Abulfez Elchibey was elected president with 59 percent of the vote and a 76 percent turnout. Days later, Elchibey fled a military mutiny. On October 3, Heydar Aliyev, the chair of the Supreme Soviet, won election as president with 98.8 percent of the vote and a 97 percent turnout. A National Council was created from the old Supreme Soviet with 25 members from the governing party and 25 from the opposition parties.
A cease-fire of sorts was achieved in Nagorno-Karabagh in 1994, after two years of violence and two coup attempts against the president.
In 1995, Alyiev appointed a 35-member Constitutional Commission, which he chaired. Scholars, lawyers, deputies and members of the intelligentsia were among those he named. However, only one opposition representative was included. Presidential advisers prepared an initial draft. Work on the draft by the Constitutional Commission took from January to June 1995. Some of the president's speeches to the Constitutional Commission were televised, but there is little evidence of openness during the drafting process. Two weeks were allowed for public comment after it was submitted to the Supreme Soviet/National Council.
A two-thirds vote in the Supreme Soviet in favor was required to approve the draft, a margin readily obtained. This step had to be completed in time for elections on November 12, 1995, which were to be held on the same day as the referendum. International observers asserted that the final draft, published only four days before the referendum, was not released with sufficient time for the public to know and understand what it contained. The law required that a minimum 50% turnout, with 75% percent in favor, be obtained to approve the document. Reputedly, the constitution was approved by 91.9% of those voting. The reported turnout was 86%, though no voting was allowed in Nagorno-Karabagh. Ratified on November 12, 1995, the constitution replaced the 1978 Soviet constitution 15 days later.
It was first amended in 2002.