CIS observation mission: No violations during election prep in Azerbaijan

The preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan have passed quietly without any serious violations, head of the CIS  observation mission Yevgeni Sloboda told Trend.

"Our mission's representatives have already visited half of the districts in Baku, inspected the constituencies in Sumgait, the 85th Shamakhi Constituency, and constituencies in both Tovuz and Agstafa," he said.

Sloboda added that the mission's members regularly attend the meetings of the Central Election Commission (CEC). The mission is meeting with the leaders of the General Prosecutor's Office, Supreme Court and Interior Ministry. The meetings, he noted, address the prepartoary activities of these agencies in the run-up to the elections and their activities during the election period.

Members of the Russian CEC will also oversee the elections and have already joined the CIS observation mission, Sloboda said.

"Sometimes, problems aroused in terms of technical preparations in the polling stations, and they have been rapidly dealt with upon the advice of our experts," he stressed.

The first group of election observers, including an organizational group, arrived in Baku on Oct. 17 to accredit short- and long-term observers on site and to open the observer headquarters.

Sloboda also led the CIS observation mission during the Azerbaijani presidential elections in 2008. The parliamentary elections are scheduled for Nov. 7. According to a list submitted to the CEC, Azerbaijan has roughly 5 million voters living in the country. Parliamentary elections were last held in November 2005. The elections are held by the majority system in 125 electoral constituencies.

Two CIS observation groups - short- and long-term missions - will monitor the elections by carrying out pre-election monitoring and monitoring on election day. One group will work in Baku, and the other will operate in the regions.

CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev will arrive in Azerbaijan on the eve of the elections. 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/