BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 16. Seven registered presidential candidates will compete in the extraordinary election of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on February 7, and each candidate will be granted all legal powers, told Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission (CEC), Trend reports.
Individuals who have registered their candidacy for the presidential election will be given free airtime and a platform for campaigning in various mass media outlets. Media subjects that offer free airtime and a platform for publication include:
- Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company;
- "Azerbaijan" newspaper;
- "Khalq" newspaper;
- "Respublika" newspaper;
- "Bakinskiy Rabochiy" newspaper.
The rights recognized for individuals whose candidacy is registered are not limited to free campaigning. The Electoral Code addresses the relevant issues. For instance, Article 184 of the Code covers the issue of payment of transportation expenses for a presidential candidate. Paragraph 1 of the mentioned article states that a presidential candidate, from the day of registration until the day of official publication of election results, has the right to use all types of public transportation (except cabs and customized trips) to move around the territory of Azerbaijan at the expense of state funds. Paragraph 2 of the same article notes that the expenses for travel in the mentioned transportation within the territory of the country shall be paid at the expense of funds allocated by the Central Election Commission for the preparation and holding of the election and based on submitted travel documents. During this time, a candidate is paid the expenses foreseen for eight trips by rail and four by airplane.
Article 185 of the Electoral Code covers the inviolability and security of a presidential candidate. Thus, the security of a registered presidential candidate is ensured by the procedure established by the Central Election Commission. A registered presidential candidate may be prosecuted only with the consent of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan under the procedure specified in Article 70.4 of this Code. According to Article 186 of the Code, a presidential candidate may have up to 50 lawyers. These lawyers are to be registered by the Central Election Commission. Another right concerns the election funds of presidential candidates. According to Article 191 of the Electoral Code, the upper limit of the election fund of a presidential candidate may not exceed 10 million manat ($5.88 million). The election funds of presidential candidates are formed exclusively from the following monetary resources:
- special funds for presidential candidates in the amount not exceeding 250,000 manat or $147,058 (for candidates nominated by political parties, a bloc of political parties, these special funds are formed at the expense of funds provided by political parties; political parties that created a bloc of political parties);
- voluntary donations from citizens and legal entities. The limit of voluntary donations cannot exceed 3,000 manat or $1,764.7 for a citizen and 50,000 manat or $29,411.7 for a legal entity.
The list of sites for meetings within the campaign for the presidential election has also been announced. The list is posted on the CEC website. All subjects of the campaign can use them free of charge and on equal terms. Other places can also be used for this purpose, following the law.
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