Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 1 / Trend E.Ostapenko /
The EU Heads of Mission to Azerbaijan support the OSCE/ODHIR interim reports on the 2010 parliamentary elections, the EU reported.
They hope that the Azerbaijani authorities, notably the Central Election Commission (CEC) as the responsible body, will be encouraged to take the necessary corrective steps to address the findings identified in the reports.
"This would enable Azerbaijan to confirm to the world its commitment to political reforms, and to continue progressing on the path towards modernization and democratization," the report says.
The Election Observation Mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) issued its Interim Reports on the period of Oct.16-26 on the parliamentary election process in Azerbaijan. The report noted positive aspects of the campaign and some violations.
The parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are scheduled for November 7, 2010. Previous parliamentary elections were held in November 2005. Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are held by the majority system in 125 constituencies.
To date, the CEC have already registered 692 candidates to the parliamentary elections.
The observation missions from the OSCE / ODIHR, PACE, CIS and GUAM will observe the fair conduct of elections. There also will be several groups of observers from the European Union, who will be part of the ODIHR mission. Representatives of the European Parliament, as well as individual EU member states, also will arrive in Baku.
Currently, the CEC registered 581 international election observers. The total number of observers hits more than 20,000 people.
The EU Heads of Mission welcome the work of the CEC and other authorities in preparation for the parliamentary election, in particular the recent decision of the Central Election Commission to provide each candidate free airtime on public TV and free space in state‑funded newspapers.
"In the last days ahead of the elections, the EU Heads of Mission encourage the relevant authorities to further promote political dialogue and pluralistic campaign environment and stand ready to provide all the necessary assistance to Azerbaijan to implement its OSCE and EU commitments," the report says.
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