Azerbaijan, Baku, 28 July/ Trend , Trend , corr E. Babayev/ The opposition party of Azerbaijan has convincing reasons to delay its decision regarding the upcoming presidential elections. "It is not still available when the Central Election Commission (CEC) will give go-ahead to the elections, when start of the elections will be made public and it will take effect," Sardar Jalaloglu, chairman of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (DPA) said on 28 July.
The presidential elections in Azerbaijan will be held on 15 October 2008.
The Supreme Majlis (Assembly) of DPA decided for party to take part in the elections on 16 February and nominated Sardar Jalaloglu for presidency. However, DPA decided to re-consider its decision to take part in the elections after amendments were made to the Election Code on 2 June since the party does not accept amendments.
According to Jalaloglu, the party plans to adopt a final decision on 1 August at the meeting of the Supreme Assembly. "Earlier CEC stated that the official go-ahead to the elections will be given at the end of July. But there is some uncertainty now. CEC plans to give a go-ahead to the elections 75 in advance of the vote. But, there is a need only for three days to call the meeting of the Supreme Majlis," Jalaloglu said.
He stated that he is aware what decision the oppositional Musavat will adopt on 2 August concerning the elections and he rejected the rumors that the meeting of the Supreme Majlis of his party would delayed because of Musavat's decision. '"DPA-Musavat cooperation will not influence DPA decision on elections. The government knows when it will adopt decision, but we do not. Therefore, there is uncertainty in the opposition. At present, the number of those who support and those who protest against taking part in the elections are almost equal," Jalaloglu said.
The Right Wing DPA was founded in 1991 by Sardar Jalaloglu. The party was committed to the radical position until January 2007; however it decided to establish a dialogue with the Government in January 2007. As a protest, Rasul Guliyev, the former speaker of the parliament and his supporters turned down DPA and established the Open Society party.
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