Azerbaijan, Baku, December 23 / Trend , M.Aliyev/
Azerbaijan's ruling party declares that no violation has been recorded during the municipal elections and believes in victory of its candidates.
"The observers of the party have observed the elections and provided comprehensive information. The elections completed without any serious law violation. The ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) had seriously prepared for the elections," NAP deputy chairman, executive secretary Ali Ahmadov said to press conference as a result of municipal elections.
Ahmadov said that the party had implemented large-scale works for the agitation of its candidates and held meetings in all regions of Azerbaijan.
"About 2,000 meetings were attended by 450,000 voters and we have held 64 trainings. The NAP has nearly 500,000 members and all of them actively participated in the elections," Ahmadov said.
With regards to the voter turnout, he said that the municipal elections are local elections and as compared to the presidential and parliamentary elections, the local elections all over the world differ with low voter turnout.
"It needs to note that this is local election and more than 30 percent turnout is a normal case. People does not properly approach this," he said.
Voting began in constituencies throughout the country at 08:00 a.m.
The country has about 4.6 million registered voters. About 15,682 members are planned to be elected to 1,718 municipalities. Municipal elections were held twice in 1999 and 2004.
Azerbaijan has registered about 31,000 candidates, including 6,108 women, for municipal members. Candidates from 18 political parties have been registered for elections. Candidates refer to 30 political parties.
The CEC registered 48,388 observers, including 1,160 local observers and 52 foreign observers.
Voter turnout in Azerbaijani municipal elections hits 31.86 percent (1,462,074 voters), Elections Information Center under the CEC told Trend . And upon exit-poll conducted by AVCİYA and ELS organizations, the voter turnout was 26-38 percent.