Azerbaijan, Baku, 15 July Trend E.Babayev / The Council of Europe (CE) Venice Commission believes that the elections, which will be held in Azerbaijan in autumn of 2008, can fully meet the international standards.
"During our meeting on 14 July the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that the upcoming elections should not only be the best elections in the history of the country, but also fully meet the international standards," Gianni Buquiccho, the Secretary of the Venice Commission, said at the training, which was organized for the members of the Azerbaijani Central Elections Committee (CEC) in Baku jointly by the CEC and CE Venice Commission's Elections Committee.
The presidential elections are scheduled in Azerbaijan for mid-October. The Central Elections Commission will officially start the election campaign and announce an exact date of the elections at the end of July.
Buquiccho said that the elections commissions have great responsibility for fair elections. "Some changes and supplements were injected in the Elections Code. We believe that the Elections Code still needs to improve. However, it is possible to hold democratic elections with this Code, as well. Free and democratic elections are the base of democracy," he said.
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