CIS: Azerbaijan creates equal conditions for various political parties to participate in parliamentary elections

The CIS Observer Mission considers that Azerbaijan created equal conditions for political parties that will take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections, CIS Executive Committee Chairman and Observer Mission Head Sergei Lebedev was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS.

"According to our estimates, Azerbaijan created equal conditions for representatives of various political parties for participation in the elections and free campaigning," he stressed. "All 700 registered candidates are provided by four minutes of free airtime on public television and space for publications in the press to present their election programs."

The parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are scheduled for November 7, 2010. Previous parliamentary elections were held in November 2005. Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are held by the majority system in 125 constituencies.

He said that the mission sent to Azerbaijan "in advance of the republic's invitation," includes 348 people from the members of national parliaments, representatives of electoral bodies, and CIS diplomatic corps, as well as members of CIS Executive Committee, observers from CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia.

The headquarters of the mission in Baku coordinates the activities of observers from Oct.18.  The headquarters is engaged in preparing documents for the accreditation of observers, monitoring the stages of the election campaign, collection and analysis of materials about the electoral process, legal review of the electoral process and media monitoring, holding meetings with representatives of political parties and distribution of observers in the regions, Lebedev said.

He said the mission, visiting the meetings of the Central Election Commission (CEC), note the openness and transparency in its activity." The mission headquarters interacts with the republican authorities in monitoring the election campaign. The CIS mission has  met with the leadership of General persecutor's office, the Supreme Court and the Interior Ministry to discuss issues related to the election campaign," Lebedev added.

Regarding the election day, Lebedev said that "the mission will observe the voting process and will try to attend the opening and closing of the polling stations and counting votes."

The CIS observation mission will issue a preliminary report on the day after the elections. The final report will be prepared within two months after the elections.


/Trend/