Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 7 / Trend /
Parliamentary elections completed in Azerbaijan at 7:00 p.m.
The voter turnout hits about 44,75 percent (2, 213,398 voters) in Azerbaijan as of 5:00 p.m., 'Elections' Information Center under the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC) told Trend.
Azerbaijan has today launched the parliamentary elections at 08:00 local time.
The Azerbaijani CEC reported that 690 candidates were running for the parliamentary elections.
Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were held by the majority system in 125 constituencies. Previous parliamentary elections were held in November 2005.
The CEC said that the voting results will be transferred through the State Automated Information System at the CEC and the website of the CEC after the elections are over.
About 46,639 local observers monitored the course of elections.
About 43,173 observers monitored the concrete constituencies.
"The rest 3,466 observers operated throughout the country, 102 were nominated by political parties, 560 - by NGOs, 3 - by candidates and the remaining ones - according to their personal initiative.
About 1,029 international observers, registered by the CEC, represented 21 international (foreign) organizations, including PACE, the EU Council, the EU Baku representation, the European Parliament, TurkPA, OSCE, ODIHR, OSCE, CIS, GUAM, embassies of the United States, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Norway, Bulgaria, Poland, Japan and Belgium, the European Academy to monitor the elections. International observers were the citizens from 48 countries.
The CEC has accredited about 43 international observers - representatives of about 20 foreign media outlets, including Reuters, BBS, al-Jazeera, TRT, Associated Press, France-Press, EPA, Anadolu, İhlas Haber Ajansı, Doğan Haber Ajansı, Daily İttehad and others.
The web cameras were installed at 500 polling stations (10 percent of the total number) to control the process of voting via the Internet. The Centre for Independent Studies "ELS" appealed to the CEC and was accredited to conduct exit-poll.
Colorless ink and ultraviolet detectors were used to ensure transparency during the elections.