A five-member, cross-party delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) visiting Azerbaijan ahead of the 7 November parliamentary elections has welcomed an overall calm atmosphere in the run-up to the elections.
"Improvements in the work of the Central Election Commission, the voter education programme launched by it, and greater attention to the quality of the voters` lists, should be commended," according to the delegation.
The delegation continued: "In a welcome development and in contrast to some earlier elections, the Azerbaijani opposition is actively involved in the electoral race."
The delegation also welcomes the new possibilities created for non-governmental organizations to be involved in the electoral procedures.
The delegation was in Baku from 18 to 21 October 2010 at the invitation of the Speaker of the Milli Majlis and will return, as part of a full-scale, 30-member PACE delegation, to observe actual voting. The delegation had meetings with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, the Minister of the Interior, as well as with a representative cross-section of political parties and electoral blocs, civil society and the media. It also had discussions with the Head of the OSCE ODIHR Election Observation Mission and members of the diplomatic community.

AzerTAc  

{nl}