PACE says approval of Azeri mandate 'depends on progress report'

According to AssA-Irada, he said the Assembly's feedback will include not only the election re-run but the overall electoral process in the country during the session. On the other hand, the observation mission's statement on the election will constitute only a part of PACE's overall report.

Platvoet said the Azeri government's request for assistance of the Venice Commission in reforming the Electoral Code would be taken into account in the feedback. He added that PACE is likely to consider the improvements made at Saturday’s poll when passing a decision on the Azeri mandate.

With regard to the fact the PACE Monitoring Committee rapporteurs Andreas Gross and Andres Herkel were not included in election observation mission, Platvoet said the two were opposed to holding the re-run of the elections only in 10 constituencies. "They believe repeat polls should have taken place in many more of them."

Platvoet said that as head of the mission, he concurs with this stance. "Given the conduct of the November 6 poll, there were grounds to bring into question the outcome of the poll in a number of other constituencies where the election re-run was not held."

As another reason for the rapporteurs' not monitoring the election, he cited busy schedules within the parliaments of their countries.

/AzerNEWS.net/