BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9
By Nargiz Ismayilova, Ilkin Seyfaddini – Trend:
Azerbaijani citizens vote with great enthusiasm, which testifies to the effectiveness of the voting system, which is coordinated by Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC), Veramella Anjaya, representative of the election observation mission from Indonesia, journalist for the Indonesian The Jakarta Post newspaper, told Trend.
"I am observing the elections in Azerbaijan for the first time, but I must stress that the organizational component of the elections is impressive,” Anjaya added. “The election process is very free, fair and has been organized well. A big number of observers, both local and foreign, also attests to the transparency of the elections."
The representative of the Indonesian election observation mission stressed that the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are similar to the elections in Indonesia.
"The most important thing is that people are interested in voting process,” Anjaya added. “We think that the elections in Azerbaijan are being held at the highest level."
Chairperson of Indonesia's National Awakening Party Anggia Erma Rini was also among the observers from Indonesia.
“Everything is being held smoothly. A big number of local and foreign observers attend the voting process, which testifies to the level of organization of the elections," the chairperson said adding that she was happy to see many women among the local observers and members of the election commissions.
The parliamentary elections of the sixth convocation are being held in Azerbaijan on Feb. 9.
Some 1,314 candidates were registered within the early parliamentary elections.
The candidacies of 246 people were nominated by 19 political parties, 1,057 were self-nominated, 11 - by initiative groups.
Twenty-one percent account for female candidates while 79 percent – male candidates.
Throughout the day, 5,573 permanent polling stations will operate in 125 constituencies of the country.
There are 5,329,460 registered voters in the country, and 340,689 internally displaced people can vote in 573 polling stations.
Some 883 international observers and 77,790 local observers are monitoring the voting process. Among the local observers, 35,152 are representatives of political parties. International observers represent 58 countries and 59 organizations.