Azerbaijan, Baku, 8 August / Trend corr. J.Babayeva/ The United States wants Azerbaijan's opposition and other political forces to participate in the presidential elections on a broader scale, Terry Davidson, Head of the PR Department of the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan, said to journalists in Baku on 8 August.
Presidential elections will be held in Azerbaijan on 15 October.
According to Davidson, opposition's participation in the elections will promote development of pluralism.
American diplomat said that anyway the United States respects several opposition parties' decision not to participate in the elections.
Azadlig bloc, uniting three opposition parties (the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, the Liberal Party and the Citizen and Development Party), and the Classical Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan decided to boycott the presidential elections. The opposition Musavat, Civil Solidarity, Democratic and Great Establishment parties refused to participate in the elections with own candidates.
So far, a total of 11 people appealed to the Central Elections Commission (CEC) for the participation in the presidnetial elections. The current President Ilham Aliyev, the chairman of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Mais Gulaliyev, the chairman of the Greens Party, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, the chairman of the Azerbaijani Unified Popular Front Party, Hafiz Hajiyev, the chairman of the Muasir Musavat party, Fuad Aliyev, the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Igbal Agazade, the chairman of the Umid Party, submitted their documents to the CEC. Moreover, Yashar Ahmadov (the unemployed), Alimukhtar Akbarov (a pensioner), Sevinj Guliyeva (a junior nurse of the Sumgayit Central Clinic Hospital), Vugar Seyidov ( a doctor), Gudrat Isagov (senior scientist of the Physics Institute the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences) submitted their documents to the CEC, as well.
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