Baku, Azerbaijan, March 19
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Mass media should be careful not to violate requirements of the Electoral Code, Azerbaijani President’s Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov said at a seminar-conference on the role and functions of the media in presidential elections.
Media plays an important role in all stages of elections in Azerbaijan, he said.
Hasanov noted that from now on there are two important objects and subjects in the Azerbaijani society in connection with the upcoming election.
"First of all, it is the candidate and his platform; each candidate must inform the people about his program, goals and views through the media. The candidates will conduct debates on television, as well as meet with voters in regions, and results of the meetings will again be reported to people by the media. From this point of view, the role of the media is proportional to the role of the candidates participating in the presidential election," he said.
He noted that the media should work during the election in accordance with requirements of the Electoral Code. "That is, they must organize their work, firstly, in accordance with their professionalism, secondly, in accordance with requirements of the Electoral Code. The media should create equal opportunities for all candidates in terms of price, time and place," he said.
Hasanov said the election is an important national event and the media should be responsible in this issue.
"The media should be careful not to violate the requirements of the Electoral Code, because violating a particular requirement of the Code can harm the whole image of the election. It must be taken into account that the election will be observed by various centers, and there should not be an impression that the requirements of the Electoral Code are violated."
He stressed that the media should properly set the borderline between the activities of the President as a head of state and his campaigning as a presidential candidate.
Hasanov added that equal conditions should be created for candidates in commercial issues, that is, an equal pricing policy should be provided for all candidates.
The presidential election in Azerbaijan is to be held on April 11. According to the Calendar Plan of Azerbaijan’s Central Election Commission (CEC), pre-election campaigning starts 23 days prior to the voting day and is stopped 24 hours before the start of voting. Thus, the campaigning will start on March 19 and end at 08:00 (local time) on April 10.