Mr. Chairman, the United States has followed closely the constitutional reform process that was the subject of Azerbaijan's national referendum held on August 24.

Observations by personnel of the U.S. embassy in Baku and by other international observers suggest that voting was marred by widespread irregularities of the kind noted in previous elections, including voter list fraud, multiple voting, intimidation of voters and stuffing of ballot boxes.

Vote totals, in precincts where U.S. and other international monitors were present, greatly exceeded the level of participation observed. Many in Azerbaijan believe that the preliminary estimates of the voting by the Central Election Commission are not credible.

The United States is thus concerned that this referendum did little to advance democratization in Azerbaijan. We were disappointed by the restrictions on domestic monitoring, lack of Election Commission reform, limited time for public education, and failure to invite comments on the referendum from the OSCE or the Council of Europe.

The referendum did little to lay the necessary groundwork to prepare the fall 2003 presidential elections to meet international standards.

The United States continues to support political pluralism in Azerbaijan as well as transparency in government.

We were pleased to see the nationally televised roundtables discussing the referendum, which included opposition parties and representatives of NGOs.

We were also pleased that during one of those roundtables, representatives of the government committed to hold another nationally televised roundtable on the new election law once it is completed. We very much look forward to further details on the scheduling of this event.

We also strongly urge Azerbaijani authorities to work with the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and others in the international community to put in place effective mechanisms to ensure a fair and impartial electoral process for the future.

Such reforms are essential for the electoral system and the results it produces to be judged credible by the citizens of Azerbaijan as well as by the international community.

Thank you.