"Azerbaijan's cooperation with Venice Commission aimed at improving election practice"

Azerbaijan's all activities carried out jointly with the Venice Commission are aimed at improving the practice of elections and protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens, Head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration's Department for Work with Law-Enforcement Agencies Fuad Alasgarov said today at the opening of an international conference on the Azerbaijani Parliamentary elections, held in the Supreme Court jointly with the Venice Commission's representatives.

"The consideration of complaints on the protection of suffrage in a short time is difficult for judges," Alasgarov said. "But this fact can not justify violations by the courts in considering similar cases. The suffrage is one of the fundamental political rights and plays a crucial role in the government management."

The complaints sent to the European Court after the 2005 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, did reveal some problems, he said.

The Azerbaijani authorities carry out large-scale work to ensure the voting rights and improve them. "We are confident that these activities will enable to hold democratic and transparent elections in accordance with the international standards," Alasgarov said.

"Today, we observe a special pre-election activity - about 1,000 people appealed to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to obtain signature lists and unlike the previous years, the political parties wishing to participate in the elections get united (14 of the 23 parties appealed to the CEC united in the five blocs). It is possible to predict the widespread use of information technology in these elections, which is evident to a new degree of political development of the Azerbaijani society, "Alasgarov said.

Elections to the Azerbaijani parliament are scheduled for Nov. 7 Previous elections to legislative body were held in November 2005. Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are held by the majority system in 125 electoral constituencies.


/Trend/