Editor's note: Photos added
Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.7 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /
Azerbaijan has improved the electoral process, as today's parliamentary elections evidence, Svetlana Orlova, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly, coordinator of the group of observers of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, said.
"The elections are held at high level and quite openly. Especially, I'd like to note the excellent technical equipment of the polling stations and work of people working in these polling stations," Orlova told journalists today in Baku.
She said one can note a significant improvement in the electoral process as compared to last year's referendum on amending the Azerbaijani Constitution.
The CIS observers will raise the issue of developing common principles for monitoring the electoral process for all observers, she said. "They are going to discuss this issue in the OSCE / ODIHR. We also believe that the procedure of marking voters' fingers should be abolished. Azerbaijan does not need it any more," Orlova said.
She added that observers from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly have visited 48 polling stations.
Azerbaijan has today launched the parliamentary elections at 08:00 local time.
The Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC) reported that 690 candidates are running for parliamentary elections.
Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are held by the majority system in 125 constituencies. Previous parliamentary elections were held in November 2005.
