BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9
Trend:
The Turkish observation mission summed up the results of observations in the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, Trend reports.
The head of the Marmara Group's Strategic and Social Research Foundation Akkan Suver said he had observed the voting process in 29 precincts.
"I watched the election process in the constituencies of Narimanov, Nasimi, Sabail, Khatai, Nizami, Absheron, Binagadi districts of Baku and in the city of Sumgayit. I also met with candidates from the Shusha, Aghdam, Khojaly and Khojavand constituencies. Together with our Vietnamese colleagues, we checked the integrity of the ballot boxes in Absheron, and in Sumgayit. We worked with OSCE representatives. I witnessed how the elections were held at the high level. Azerbaijan is developing in the spirit of faith in elections and democracy. In particular, I was struck by the actions of observers and special attention during the recount of votes in the 18th constituency. We admired the fact that most observers were women," Akkan Suver said.
"These elections in Azerbaijan are the democracy itself. I believe that elections will benefit the country and the renewed parliament will give Azerbaijan even more strength," the Turkish observer added.
The parliamentary elections of the sixth convocation were 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 accounted for female candidates while 79 percent – male candidates.
Throughout the day, 5,573 permanent polling stations operated in 125 constituencies of the country. There were 5,329,460 registered voters.
Some 883 international observers and 77,790 local observers monitored the voting process. Among the local observers, 35,152 were representatives of political parties. International observers represented 58 countries and 59 organizations.
Exit polls were conducted by AJF & Associates Inc. (US) jointly with Citizens' Labor Rights Protection League, the Rey Monitoring Center, and the French OpinionWay Research Institute together with the “Human Rights in the XXI Century – Azerbaijan” Foundation.
