Eldar Namazov files claim against Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission

According to Namazov, the claim has been filed as he considers that the electoral legislation was violated by the untimely declaration of the start of election campaign by the Central Election Commission

The thing is that in line with the amended electoral legislation, the start of presidential racing should be declared within 75 days before the voting day, but the amendments to the law came in force just on June 24.

According to the old legislation, elections were to be declared within 120 days before voting, to be held on the third Wednesday of October (in this case October 15) that is June 17.

"The law has no retroactive force and the Central Election Commission was to declare the start of elections in line with the old legislation, as the new one has not come to power yet", considers Namazov, demanding to recognize these idleness of the commission's officials as illegal and pass a special decision to punish the responsible.

The candidate for presidency noted that "the situation created due to the idleness of the Central Electoral Commission is too mixed and the legitimacy of the election process  itself has become doubtful".

"We intend to file one more claim to the Constitutional Court due to the need to pass a decision about the legal way out of the established situation", said Namazov.

Namazov intends to file one more claim, connected with the new norms of the Electoral Code of Azerbaijan, according to which candidates may hold their agitation campaign only on the public television free of charge.

The public television covers only 50% of the country's territory and, according to Namazov, voters, living beyond these territories, will not be able to hear the pre-election speeches.

Director of Media Rights Institute, independent lawyer Rashid Hajili considered Namazov's claim substantiated. He called the established situation "another proof of legal nihilism of the authorities".

"Certainly, the new law has been adopted and elections should be conducted in line with it. It fixes reduction in the election campaign period from 120 down to 75 days.

Yet, all legal procedures should have been observed for the law to come into effect. This is another indicator of the absence of supremacy of law in Azerbaijan", considers Hajili. Now the Central Election Commission has in fact violated the working law and should bear responsibility for it.

None of the members of the Central Election Commission agreed to comment on Namazov's claim officially.

Only one of them, willing to remain incognito, agreed with the presence of legal collisions in this issue. However, he said "the parliament has adopted a new law, which fixes the willingness of the state to hold elections on the basis of the newly introduced norms".

"In this situation it would have been incorrect for the Central Election Commission to schedule the elections on the basis of old standards. Therefore, the Central Election Commission did not appoint the date of elections in line with old legislation. Under the Electoral Code the presidential elections are to be held on the third Wednesday of October, that is on October 15. The Central Election Commission will declare the date of elections within 75 days before it", said the representative of the Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission.

/Kavkazski uzel/