details added (first version posted on 08:09)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 1
Trend:
All necessary conditions were created in Azerbaijan for 5.2 million people to vote in the parliamentary election, Mazahir Panahov, the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC), said Nov. 1.
Panahov said everything was ready to hold the transparent election. The election is held in Azerbaijan on Nov. 1.
"It is possible to observe the election anywhere in the world," Panahov said. "Some web cameras were installed in 1,000 polling stations. Social and political stability, the attitude of the Azerbaijani society for the election allow saying that the election will be transparent and free."
"Some 767 candidates are participating in the election," he said. "More than 60,000 observers were registered to observe it."
Panahov said that the voter turnout will be high.
"Four exit polls will be held during the election," he said. "I invite the voters to actively participate."
Panahov also said that regarding the observers' participation, all necessary conditions were created for them. He added that bservers are not entitled to interfere in the work of the election commissions.
"They can only observe. If the shortcomings are noticed, they must inform the election commissions," he explained.
Panahov said that the initial information about the results of the parliamentary election will be disclosed after 00:00 (UTC/GMT +4 hours).
"But there will be unofficial results," he said. "The process of submitting the ballots from the polling stations to the constituencies and from the constituencies to the CEC will be completed in two days. The whole process, both in the constituencies and the CEC, ballot counting process will be implemented with the participation of observers and the media."
Some 503 international observers from 40 organizations and over 66,000 local observers monitor the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan. Some 767 candidates claim for 125 seats in the Azerbaijani parliament.
The exit poll is being conducted by the ELS independent research center, the REY Monitoring Center, as well as the Azerbaijani youth's rights protection center together with the French "Opinion Way" Social Research Institute, the Citizens' Labor Rights Protection League together with the US AJF & Associates Inc during the election.
The polling stations opened at 08:00 (UTC/GMT +4 hours) and will be closed at 19:00 (UTC/GMT +4 hours).