Azerbaijan, Baku / Т corr A. Ismayilova / Azerbaijani authorities and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe have coordinated changes into the practice of voting. The parties agreed not to make use of envelops at votes, a representative of the CE Venice Commission, Sergey Kuznetsov, reported on 7 June from Strasbourg.
It was agreed not place ballots into envelops while voting. According to Kuznetsov, envelops impede voting. So it would be expedient to eliminate envelops and just to drop the ballots into the ballot-boxes.
The agreement was achieved during consultations between the representatives of Azerbaijani administration and the Venice Commission in Strasbourg at the end of May. The sides discussed the possible appeals on the decisions by the bodies that organize elections, de-registration of candidates, and other issues related to elections.
Kuznetsov voiced his hope that by the next meeting, scheduled for the end of summer in Baku, progress in the composition of election commissions will be achieved. The parties agreed that Azerbaijan would develop its proposals by the time of the next meeting in Baku.
According to the Chairman of the Venice Commission, election commissions should enjoy the confidence of all sides to elections. After the last elections in Azerbaijan, independence and autonomy of the election commissions was cast in doubt.
Representing Azerbaijan, the meeting held in Strasbourg on 30 May was by the Director of the Administration of Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani parliament), Safa Mirzayev, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Mazahir Panahov, and the department head of the Executive Administration of Azerbaijani President, Shahin Aliyev.