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Council of Europe Wants Mayor of Baku City to be Appointed via Voting

Politics Materials 2 December 2008 19:34 (UTC +04:00)

France, Strasburg, 2 December / Trend , corr. A.Maharramli / Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities wants the Mayor of Baku City, capital of Azerbaijan, to be appointed via voting.  

"We are disappointed by the status of Baku. We would wish the mayors of the capital cities to be appointed via voting. An important step in this regard was the election of the mayor of Tbilisi in Georgia last year," Ulrich Bohner, Head of Secretariat of the Congress, briefed the media on 2 December. 
Some 2,757 municipalities function in Azerbaijan. Of them, 2,400 are village municipalities. City municipalities of capital Baku and Ganja, second largest city of Azerbaijan, have not been formed yet.

The status of Baku has not been determined. Baku is governed by the Executive Power. The Head of the Executive Power is appointed by the President of the country.

Azerbaijan has accepted the recommendations of the Congress with regards to the determination of the status of the capital, establishment of Baku municipality and holding mayor elections. The implementation of the recommendations is not obligation and compulsory.  

Bohner said that Azerbaijan has hesitations regarding the status of Baku.

"Over the last years, we have co-operated with Azerbaijan with regards to the development of the municipalities. We co-operate within the program envisaging the development of the local self-government associations, and three associations have been established," Head of Secretariat said.

He said that currently the Congress does not prepare any report or document regarding Azerbaijan. The President of the Congress plans to visit the countries of South Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, soon.   

The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]

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