BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 10
Trend:
The mission of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) recognizes the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan as legitimate, transparent and credible, head of the mission, SCO Deputy Secretary-General Sherali Saidamir Jonon said a press conference following the elections, Trend reports.
"Ultraviolet detectors were used to check for the presence of invisible paint, which was applied to the voters' fingers before voting at the polling stations. The website of Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission (CEC), as well as its information centers, published information on the addresses of polling stations, members of commissions etc. Election commissions were provided with ballots, printed and other necessary materials. The CEC also provided foreign observers with memos with useful monitoring information, as well as a brochure on voting rules," Sherali Jonon said.
As Sherali Jonon noted that inviting international observers ensures openness, transparency and democratic parliamentary elections.
"The SCO mission conducted observations in the cities of Baku, the settlements of Absheron, Ganja, Sumgayit, Shirvan, as well as in the territories adjacent to them. Members of the SCO mission visited more than 204 polling stations on election day. The mission positively assesses the large-scale work done by CEC of Azerbaijan. The activities of the CEC were open, transparent and independent. The SCO mission states that the parliamentary elections were consistent with the country's mandatory laws, as well as international laws adopted by the country, and recognizes the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan as legitimate, transparent, credible and democratic. The mission congratulates the people of Azerbaijan on the elections for Azerbaijani Parliament, and wishes the Azerbaijani people success," Sherali Jonon 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.
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.