Editor's Note: the eighth and ninth paragraphs added
Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.7 / Trend, T.Konyayeva /
At the moment, OSCE Observation Mission has visited about 200 polling stations, Janez Lenarcic, head of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights told journalists in Baku.
"We are not going to make any comments now, because collecting main data is underway," Lenarcic said.
He said that the assessment of the OSCE / ODIHR mission will be announced later after all the observers submit their reports.
"More than 400 observers operate throughout Azerbaijan, he said. The monitoring process includes the monitoring over closing the polling stations, vote counting and the data. All the data will be contained in their reports, which will be collected, studied and analyzed. They will be the basis for a total assessment of the electoral process.
He said that the mission's report forms were developed in detail. They take into account all possible aspects of the assessment of the electoral process.
He also noted that besides a short-term mission, a long-term mission, which observed some aspects during the pre-election period, including the process of ongoing pre-election campaigns, media coverage, the work of pre-electoral bodies and the observance of the law, operates in Azerbaijan in late September.
"Two interim reports, which include an assessment of the total pre-election period, were submitted to the public as a result of their observations. All this will serve as the basis for our final assessment," he said
He said that an initial assessment on the elections will be available only tomorrow. A final report, including the recommendations for Azerbaijani leadership, will be issued after two months.
Lenarcic pointed out that personal impressions are not taken into account. The final assessment can be given only on the basis of observations of all OSCE / ODIHR representatives.
"I am one of the representatives. My observations are as important as those of all other representatives. We can make up a general idea only on the basis of our observations, but we must wait for the results," he said.
Azerbaijan has today launched the parliamentary elections at 08:00 local time.
The Azerbaijani CEC reported that 690 candidates are running for the parliamentary elections.
Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are held by the majority system in 125 constituencies. Previous parliamentary elections were held in November 2005.