Leo Platvoet to head CE mission to Azerbaijan again

As APA reports referring to the member of the Monitoring Committee Gultakin Hajiyeva, the discussions focused on several issues, including pre-election situation in Azerbaijan, the run-up to the re-elections scheduled for May 13, preparation to the elections as well as registration of candidates.

The Azerbaijani delegation members and Monitoring Committee co-rapporteurs on Azerbaijan Andreas Gross and Andres Herkel delivered a speech at the session.

"After about 10-minute discussions, it was decided to pay great attention to May elections. An election observation mission led by Leo Platvoet will observe the elections and submit a report to the Council of Europe," Ms.Hajiyeva said.

Hajiyeva also said that the number of observers has not yet been defined. However, there will be enough observers to observe the re-elections in all of the 10 constituencies in Azerbaijan.

"Probably, there will be 50 observers," Hajiyeva added.

According to Hajiyeva, during the discussions, A.Gross stressed the importance of making some amendments to the composition of the Central Election Commission. Samad Seyidov and other members of the delegation commented on this issue.

"It was stated that improvement of legislation is a dynamic process. However, bearing in mind that the re-election is the continuation of the 6 November parliamentary elections, the existing legislation enables to ensure conducting of democratic elections. Problems might appear only in practice as it was during the 6 November elections. So, we shall do our utmost to eliminate these problems," Hajiyeva said.

Hajiyeva also added that plan of measures coordinated between the Council of Europe and Azerbaijani delegation had been drawn up. In conformity with the plan, the co-rapporteurs and delegation of the observation mission members will arrive in Baku to familiarize with the pre-election situation in April.