Azerbaijan, Baku, 10 April / Trend corr G. Jabiyev/ The First Vice-Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament believes that the opposition wants to make a provocation by forming the election committees on parity basis. "During the parliamentary elections of 2000, when the election committees were formed on parity basis, the opposition petrified the work of Central Election Committee (CEC)," the First Vice-Speaker Ziyafat Askarov said to journalists on 10 April.
During the parliamentary elections of 2000, half of the CEC members were from the opposition. They refused from CEC meetings.
The election committees in Azerbaijan are formed from the representatives of majority, minority at the Parliament and neutral MPs. CEC includes 18 members. The opposition parties urge to form election committees of the opposition and authorities on parity basis.
The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe has also suggested re-forming of the election committees' composition.
Askarov said that the opposition's wish to form CEC on parity basis is not aimed at transparency of the elections, but to repeat the provocation which they made at the parliamentary elections of 2000. "The Azerbaijani Government, not the international organizations, bears the responsibility for transparent and equitable elections".
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