TODAY.AZ / Politics

Venice Commission announced its final opinion on amendments to Election Code of Azerbaijan

15 June 2005 [08:33] - TODAY.AZ
The Venice Commission (VC) of Council of Europe and OSCE announced their opinions on the amendments to the Election Code of Azerbaijan.
This document entered APA from the Venice Commission. The document was prepared based on the comments of the OSCE expert Rumen Maleev and Georg Nolte and Peter Paczolay from the Venice Commission. It is indicated in the document that the Venice Commission, the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Bureau of OSCE and the representative of the authority of Azerbaijan met for discussing the amendments to the Election Code in Strasbourg on 1 March 2005.

It was decided in that meeting that Azerbaijani authority had to prepare the text of the draft amendments and present it to the Venice Commission and OSCE for submitting their opinion till the end of March.

However, the draft was presented to the Venice Commission on April 25, 2005. After this the commission presented the document to the experts for expressing their opinion. The commission expressed its regret on Azerbaijani authority’s not accepting the recommendations of the commission during preparation of the amendments to the Election Code. The Venice Commission especially stressed that the last amendments of the authority to the Election Code (25 April 2005) actually reflected the recommendations of 2004 in the minimal level, and these amendments were of the technical character. However, it is noted in the opinion informing about Azerbaijani authority’s accepting some of the recommendations of the Venice Commission that the Election Code is in the undesirable level. After the Venice Commission enumerated the reasons the amendments made to the definite articles of the Election Code, it submitted its final opinion.

The commission noted that some of the amendments made to the Election Code were partially considered in the new draft and noted that the recommendations of :

- improving administrative practice for creating normal conditions for the election commissions;
- increasing the transparency of the process of placing the voters’ list in the web site of CEC;
- determining the additional measures for preventing misuse of the voters’ cards;
- conducting additional measures for providing the public control on the elections process;
- Simplifying the procedure of reviewing the complaints during the election process were partially reflected in the new Election Code.

VC also noted using repeated expressions, imperfect state of the language, and stated that the procedures of registering the candidates, investigating the complaints financing the election campaign, had been complicated. It was also stressed that there were limitations in the content of the agitation materials in the election campaign.

However, VC also noted that the recommendations on composition of the election commissions, gathering signature, candidates’ refusing their registration, determining places for the election meetings and gatherings, right of holding of equal campaign, transparency of the financial support, problems related to the observers, procedures of not being registered, final protocols, preventing interfering in the staffs of the election commissions which were among the recommendations of the commission had not been reviewed at all.

VC specially stressed the questions of candidates’ putting fee elections deposit in the very extraordinary high degree and several NGOs’ (being 30 % financed from foreign sources) being confined to observe the elections process in the code.

/APA/

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/19636.html

Print version

Views: 2894

Connect with us. Get latest news and updates.

Recommend news to friend

  • Your name:
  • Your e-mail:
  • Friend's name:
  • Friend's e-mail: