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Azerbaijani Opposition Parties Demand to Increase Number of MPs to 250

Politics Materials 16 October 2007 13:52 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. S.Ilhamgizi / The Consultative Council uniting six opposition parties: Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (DPA), Social Democratic Party (SDPA), Azerbaijani National Independent Party (ANIP), Musavat, Taraggi and Social Forum for Azerbaijan, passed the project of changes to the Constitution and Election Code, the DPA reported.

The projects developed by the aforesaid parties stated the restoration of majority and proportional election systems while making changes to the Constitution. The number of MPs should be increased from the current 125 to 250, 125 of them to be elected by a majority system the other 125 by a proportional system.

Changes proposed to the Election Code include the balance of the main political parties in Azerbaijan should be kept; representatives of political parties should be represented on parity basis. First, election commissions should be formed from representatives of the authorities and the opposition who collected most votes in the parliamentary elections of 2005. Second, commissions should be formed from representatives of the authorities and political parties who collected approximately 1.5% of votes at the parliamentary elections in 2005 and party blocs. Third, commissions should be formed from representatives of the authorities, political parties and party bloc candidates who collected the most votes in the parliamentary elections of 2005, as well as parties participated by its candidate or the candidates registered in the Central Election Commission. State officials cannot be members of the election commission.

Azerbaijani citizens residing abroad will be able to vote via the internet. Candidates participating in the elections will be able to hold demonstrations in front of the polling station in the case of fraudulent voting.

The aforesaid parties will agree the document with other opposition parties and submit to the meeting of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe due to discuss the Election Code which will be held in Baku in November.

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