UK observers: today's elections will for sure be successful

By Trend

Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan has implemented great work as elections are very organized and meet international standards, representative of the UK Elections Observers Mission, professor of London's Academy of Diplomacy and International Governance, Barry Anthony Tomalin told Trend.

"The elections' organization is impressive. The number of local observers is what amazed me the most. Another thing that I really liked is that a great number of observers are women. This is something to be proud of," said the observer.

He also added that the process is very well coordinated by CEC and expressed confidence that the elections will go well.

Another representative of the Elections Observers Mission, Director of International Diplomacy Programs professor Nabil Ayad noted that the elections are going smoothly.

"I am impressed with the elections process. The elections are going smooth with no obstacles. We were also impressed by the printed instructions on the observation rules and how professionally the voters are treated. Congratulations with the elections in Azerbaijan, which are of very high standard," Ayad said.

The parliamentary elections of the sixth convocation are being held in Azerbaijan on Feb. 9.

Secretariat Information Center of the Central Election Commission (CEC) will inform about the voting process, as well as preliminary data as of 15:00, 17:00 and 19:00 (GMT+4).

Some 1,314 candidates were registered within the early parliamentary elections.

The candidacies of 246 people were nominated by 19 political parties, 1,057 were self-nominated, 11 - by initiative groups.

Twenty-one percent account for female candidates while 79 percent – male candidates.

Throughout the day, 5,573 permanent polling stations will operate in 125 constituencies of the country.

There are 5,329,460 registered voters in the country, and 340,689 internally displaced people can vote in 573 polling stations.

Some 883 international observers and 77,790 local observers are monitoring the voting process. Among the local observers, 35,152 are representatives of political parties. International observers represent 58 countries and 59 organizations.

Exit polls are conducted by AJF & Associates Inc. (US) jointly with Citizens’ Labor Rights Protection League, the Rey Monitoring Center, and the French OpinionWay Research Institute together with the “Human Rights in the XXI Century – Azerbaijan” Foundation.