The Council of Europe (РЎР•) believes sincerely in transparent and fair elections in Azerbaijan, such a statement was made by the CE Secretary General special envoy in Azerbaijan, Mats Lindberg on 1 September at the news conference in Baku, Trend reports.
В"We expect, all items of the edict of the President of Azerbaijan of 11 May 2005 “On improvement of the election practice” will be fulfilled”, Lindberg underlined.
He appreciated positively the process of registration of candidates from the part of the Central Election Committee (CEC), voicing the hope, that all candidates will get relevant permissions before the time, stipulated by the legislation.
The CE Secretary General special envoy in Baku expressed also the hope, the electors’ certificates will be prepared so, that to cut off the possibility for one person to vote twice.
Lindberg admitted, at the same time, the progress in issuing the identity cards to the citizens is not satisfactory. “However, there is still time and it is not correct to talk about anything in advance”, he noted.
Touching upon the implementation of the pre-election “CE Action Program” in Azerbaijan, Lindberg noted, the CE representative office held a number of actions, and visits of the organization’s high-ranking officials to Baku took place.
В"Members of the AGO monitoring group arrived in Baku on 30 June -1 July, on 20-22 August will come the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Rene van der Linden, on 4 September- the CE Secretary General Terry Davis will arrive in Baku”, the diplomat noted, reminding that a large conference “Elections and Development of Democracy” will be held in Baku, where not only Terry Davis, but also the former President of Malta Ugo Mifsud-Bonniki will take part.
Along with this, the CE Secretary General special envoy voiced concern due to mutual accusations in the oppositional and pro-government media of Azerbaijan, noting. The end must be put to the “black PR”.
