Election Monitoring Center Makes Public Action Plan on Presidential Elections in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 July/ Trend , coor J. Babayeva/ Election Monitoring Center (EMC) of Azerbaijan has made pubic action plan on the presidential elections. According to the plan, EMC will train citizens about preparation of voters' lists, to provide technical and legal basis help for NGO and groups of citizens on impartial and individual observation and to carry out measures to make voters more active, Anar Mammadli, executive director of EMC said in a press conference on 17 July.

EMC is a non-governmental organization which was founded in 2001. It was registered by the Ministry of Justice in February 2008. On 17 April 2008, Khatai District Court allowed the appeal of the Ministry of Justice and canceled its registration. EMC appealed Appeal Court. At the same time, EMC was founded once again and Ministry of Justice was informed about it. At present, EMC functions as an initiative group.

According to Mammadli, the action plan of EMC would be realized through the material and technical aid of the US Agency for International Development, OSCE Baku Office, Embassy of the Great Britain and National Democracy Institute of US. "EMC will also cooperate with the Azerbaijani representation of the OSCE Bureau on Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Council of Europe, EU and International Fund for Election System (IFES) within the action plan," Mammadli said.

According to the EMC executive director, though lack of state registration creates obstacles for the activities of the Center, it will contribute to the elections as an initiative group. "We hope that the lack of registration will not cause serious problems," Mammadli said.

According to Mammadli, the appeal of EMC will be examined on 29 July. "We hope that the Ministry of Justice and Appeal Court will treat the registration of EMC in a fair way," Mammadli said.