Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 23
By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:
A pre-electoral delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) visited Baku on September 21-22, 2015 to assess the pre-election process and the preparations for the parliamentary election to be held in Azerbaijan on November 1, 2015, PACE monitoring group's statement published on the PACE website said Sept. 23.
The delegation welcomed the openness of the Azerbaijani authorities and the invitation being extended to a large number of international organisations to observe the forthcoming parliamentary election, including long-term observers from OSCE/ODIHR.
To the regret of the pre-electoral PACE mission, no agreement was reached between OSCE/ODIHR and the Azerbaijani authorities on the number of observers to be deployed and the methodology, so eventually this observation mission was cancelled by OSCE/ODIHR.
A large number of independent interlocutors stressed that progress has been made since the last parliamentary election five years ago, and that the country should not be isolated, the statement said.
The pre-electoral mission delegation was informed by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) about the different stages of the preparation of the parliamentary election.
"According to the CEC, no complaints have been submitted to it so far," the statement said.
The PACE pre-electoral mission welcomes in particular the fact that some major opposition parties have decided to co-operate within a political alliance to enhance their chances of being elected.
The PACE delegation underlines the great importance of ensuring freedom of expression and freedom of the media in order to ensure a level playing field for all participants and full transparency of the election process.
During the visit, the PACE delegation held a number of official meetings in Azerbaijan on September 21-22.
The parliamentary election will be held in Azerbaijan November 1.
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