Azerbaijan, Baku, 18 June / corr. Trend E.Babayev / There is serious uncertainty in the Azerbaijani oppositional Musavat party on its participation in the upcoming presidential elections. "I cannot determine whether I am for or against participation in the elections in this situation," Arif Hajili, head of the Central Executive Administration of Musavat, told to journalists.
Some changes were included into the Elections Code at the decision of the Milli Majlis [Azerbaijan Parliament] dated 2 June. The term of the pre-election campaign was reduced from 120 days to 75 days. 28 of 75 days are allocated for candidates' propaganda, whilst the rest of the days for the collection of signatures for registration of the candidates, check up of these signatures by Central Elections Commission and other procedures. The number of required signatures has been reduced from 45,000 to 40,000, and advertising of the candidates has been banned on the state media. Subsequently, Musavat began to discuss its decision to participate in the elections at local organizations of the party.
According to Hajili, the situation inside the party is seriously being examined. "However, the issue on Azerbaijan will be discussed during the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. We will also analyze the results of discussions," he said. Hajili said that final decision is expected to be taken by the end of this month.
The opposition party Musavat was established in 1992. Isa Gambar, the head of the party, was a speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament (from 1992 to 1993). In 2003 he was a presidential candidate. This party is represented with 5 MPs at Milli Majlis.
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