Chairperson of Kyrgyz Central Commission for Elections: Azerbaijan creates all conditions for free choice of MPs

By Trend

Azerbaijan has created all conditions for the free choice of worthy MP candidates, Chairperson of the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda of Kyrgyzstan Nurzhan Shildabekova told Trend.

Shildabekova is monitoring the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.

"Of course, the electoral systems of Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan are different,” Shildabekova added. “However, it is obvious that there are no good or bad electoral systems. Each country chooses a system that suits its current trends in political development and corresponds to the political system in the country established by its Constitution.”

“At the same time, there is a common criterion and election standards, otherwise there would be no international monitoring,” the chairperson said. “This is the building of citizens' confidence in the election results. There are no problems with this issue in Azerbaijan. Citizens trust the electoral system through which members are elected to the parliament and local self-government bodies in the country."

Shildabekova stressed that the electoral standards have been already observed in the voting procedure.

"The candidates involved in the election campaign must be able to equally present their election programs and compete for the votes,” the chairperson added. “By the example of elections in Azerbaijan, we see comprehensive information about the candidates at the polling stations, and an increase in the number of candidates, which testifies to the political pluralism in the country.”

“We liked that not only representatives of parties, but also self-nominated candidates are involved in the parliamentary elections,” the chairperson said. “The fact that 2/3 of all candidates are self-nominated candidates testifies to the fact that citizens actively exercise their rights.”

“Thus, freedom of choice is being expanded and this is a very good trend in the electoral system of any country,” the chairperson said. “We are glad for our Azerbaijani colleagues, the organizers of the elections and the Azerbaijani citizens. We think that all conditions have been created for citizens to be able to freely choose worthy candidates.”

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

The CEC Secretariat Information Center will inform about the voting process, as well as preliminary data as of 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.