# A referendum abolishes the two-consecutive-term presidential limit

Date: 2009

## The fact

On 18 March 2009 Azerbaijani voters approved a constitutional referendum abolishing the two-consecutive-term limit. [Aliyev](/people/ilham-aliyev) could run indefinitely.

## Context

He backed the package. The CEC counted. Venice Commission neighbourhoods criticised. Rotation ended.

2009 term limits; 2016 seven-year term and vice-presidency. Two constitution Facts.

The president of Azerbaijan is head of state and commander-in-chief. He can decree, appoint a vice-president, and order force. He does not sit as a Baku trial judge, does not write ICJ orders, and does not write European Commission memoranda.

## Evidence and sources

MSK Azerbaijan carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is electoral integrity: a completed repeal of consecutive-term limits.

## What is established and what is not

Established: The 2009 referendum removed the two-consecutive-term limit.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The CEC tabulated.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies A referendum abolishes the two-consecutive-term presidential limit, not a later speech about A referendum abolishes the two-consecutive-term presidential limit.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. A referendum abolishes the two-consecutive-term presidential limit on 2009-03-18 is not a licence to treat every later MSK Azerbaijan communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average A referendum abolishes the two-consecutive-term presidential limit into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He backed and certified the package. The CEC tabulated. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Ilham Aliyev: https://factrail.ai/people/ilham-aliyev

## Drivers

- Electoral Integrity and Competitiveness: https://factrail.ai/drivers/electoral-integrity-and-competitiveness

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-azerbaijan-referendum-idUSTRE52H2Q920090318
- https://www.msk.gov.az/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/az-term-limits-2009