Progress achieved in negotiations over amendments to election legislation

Chairman of Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov, head of Parliament administration Sefa Mirzayev, head of Department of Legislation and Legal Expertise at President's Office Shahin Aliyev represented Azerbaijan and Sergey Kuznetsov and Pier Garron represented Venice Commission (VC) in the negotiations.

VC election and referendum department’s official Kuznetsov told the APA the meeting was held in accordance with the agreement VC experts reached in Baku on April 12, this year.

"Today we debated the amended draft. There will be several amendments in the document. In general, we have achieved progress in several issues and hope we will end the debate of the rest issues by autumn," he said.

"I would not say that we cannot not reach an agreement on certain issues. We also debated previous problems and try to solve them. We can not say anything at present as the debated issues should be in documented," he said.

Kuznetsov said that proposals of pro-opposition Azadliq alliance were not debated.

"We received those proposals. But the experts are to get acquainted with the proposals. Certainly, the proposals will be taken into consideration, but I can not say anything instead of experts," he added.

Kuznetsov touching on the date of next stage of negotiations said that it is not known yet.

"We should contact government officials, including CEC. Meetings dedicated to specific issues will be probably organized, and these debates will possibly involve more attendees," he underscored.