“The forthcoming parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are of historic importance for the formation and development of democratic institutes in the country,” Terry Davis, the Council of Europe Secretary General, stated to a conference on �Elections and Democratic Development’ in Baku on Monday.
In his remarks the CE Secretary-General noted all articles of the presidential decree dated 11 May should be implemented. “It is very important to implement the decree. All articles of the must be implemented on the national base and on the level of local administrations.
The Azerbaijani people must not be betrayed,” Davis stressed. The same time he noted that Azerbaijan has undertaken definite obligations of the CE and international organizations, which necessitates holding democratic and far elections.
Touching upon the dialogue between the authorities and opposition Davis said that it was a positive milestone and targets removing a gap between the state and society during and after the elections.
Over the past few years there was observed a progress in the organization of democratic elections and I hope the elections to be held on 6 November to give an impetus to the development of democracy in the country, the CE Secretary General said, noting that none of the CE member-countries was proper. “Democracy is tolerance and dialogue first of all. I arrived in Azerbaijan as a friend and I am not going to support any political flow,” Davis said in the conclusion of his speech.
