German observer: Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan very well organized

By Trend

The parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are very well organized, Birgit Wetzel, a representative of the election observation mission from Germany, told Trend.

“I came here as part of an election observation mission at the invitation of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Berlin,” Wetzel said. “We visited polling stations and made sure that the voting process was well organized. I have been to Azerbaijan many times and I am happy to be here again.”

The representative noted that holding parliamentary elections at such a level will be crucial for Azerbaijan’s future generations.

“This is our third day in Azerbaijan,” added Wetzel. “Based on what we saw and heard from people over these three days, the elections should be successful. We saw a great number of young and independent candidates who put forward their candidacy for the elections.”

The parliamentary elections of the sixth convocation were held in Azerbaijan on Feb. 9. 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 accounted for female candidates while 79 percent – male candidates.

Throughout the day, 5,573 permanent polling stations operated in 125 constituencies of the country. There were 5,329,460 registered voters.

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

Exit polls were 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.