ZANGILAN, Azerbaijan, September 1. The voting process at the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan has strictly observed all the basic principles of the electoral law, the Deputy Chairperson of the Council of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Sergei Khomenko, told Trend.
“Today is a festive day in Azerbaijan. People go to polling stations with an elevated mood and believe that today's choice of the Azerbaijani people will accompany the development of this state. We have visited polling stations in Fuzuli and Khankendi. Next, we will visit polling stations in Shusha. All basic principles of freedom of expression of the will of citizens are strictly observed in the voting process. It is very pleasant to look at such an organization of elections in Azerbaijan. 900 candidates for 125 seats in the Parliament of Azerbaijan. The people have a lot to choose from,” he said.
Khomenko noted that the heads of the Belarusian and Azerbaijani parliaments, Natalia Kochanova and Sahiba Gafarova, are on friendly terms.
On June 28, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree dissolving the sixth convocation of the Azerbaijani Parliament and scheduling the extraordinary election for September 1.
Azerbaijan has 6,421,960 registered voters, including 374 who turned 18 on the election day. There are 6,478 polling stations, comprising 6,343 permanent and 135 temporary locations.
In the territories liberated from occupation, 54 permanent polling stations are set up. There are 10 electoral districts for internally displaced persons (IDPs), with 574 IDP polling stations serving 397,862 voters. More than 42,000 voters will cast their ballots in the liberated areas.
A total of 51,141 voters will participate for the first time in the extraordinary parliamentary election. The oldest female voter is 134 years old, and the oldest male voter is 109 years old.
Exit polls will be conducted at approximately 2,500 polling stations. Three international organizations are registered to carry out these polls: the Citizens' Labor Rights Protection League, together with Oracle Advisory Group (US), and the "Tereggi" Public Association for Social Research, in collaboration with the Italian SWG S.p.A. research company.
A total of 112,749 local observers have been registered, including over 65,000 representatives of political parties. There are 598 international observers from 51 organizations and 69 countries, including 227 from OSCE/ODIHR and 61 from OSCE PA.
Among the 990 registered candidates, 305 represent 25 political parties, while 371 are party members but were not nominated by their parties. In total, 676 candidates are affiliated with political parties.
Webcams have been installed at 1,000 polling stations nationwide to allow direct and continuous observation of the voting process without requiring registration.
Portable ballot boxes will be used across all polling stations for the parliamentary election on September 1.
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