Azerbaijan, Baku, 21 August / Trend corr. E.Babayev / The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan does not accept the claims regarding serious obstacles in regions against presidential contenders during the pre-election campaign. "No facts regarding the obstacles put toward contenders have been delivered to CEC. Some contenders evaluate a common obstacle as forejudged attitude towards them," Mazahir Panahov, chairman of CEC, said.
Azerbaijan will host the presidential elections on 15 October 2008. So far, 16 contenders have submitted their documents to CEC. The incumbent President Ilham Aliyev and chairman of the ruling New Azerbaijan party (NAP) has already submitted the necessary 40,000 signatures to CEC.
Presidential contenders - Hafiz Hajiyev, chairman of the Muasir Musavat party, and Igbal Agazade, chairman of Umid party, have stated that they faced serious obstacles during collection of signatures.
Panahov said that only Akif Gurbanov, a member of Umid, has stated about obstacles so far. "I asked him to show me facts. However, I have not received anything so far," Panahov said.
Panahov believes that some contenders exaggerate facts. For example, I can take signature list and go to any region. There a taxi will take another passenger, but not me. Then I can evaluate this action as negative attitude towards me. Some candidates see such actions like forejudged attitude towards themselves.
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