The US government will shortly invite the authorities and the opposition to table of talks and make all possible to restrain from the use of force, member of the US Congress mission, Darrel Issa, Republican, of California, and representative Loretta Sanchez, Democrat of California, stated to a news conference on Thursday.
They noted that the key objective of the visit to Azerbaijan and Georgia is to get familiar with the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline, global fighting with terror and development of democracy. During the two-day visit the Congressmen held a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. “We hope that Azerbaijan will hold free and fair elections. The media activities will be fully independent with respect to provide the citizens with free access to such information,” Issa stressed. He noted that during 4-minute air time allocated to candidates for elections campaign is a step forward, noting that the activities of the large-member international observation mission will have a positive impact on the elections process. “There is not notion �free time’ in the United States. So, we welcome the allocation of free-air time for candidates to MP. We know that even one of the local televisions announced on
the decrease of tariffs for air time, which is a positive factor,” Sanchez underlined, adding that the US authorities were in optimistic mood in the issue concerning the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.
They stressed the necessity of offering to the opposition an opportunity to have a representative in every elections precinct. Touching upon the use of ink the Congressmen said that such step was a good idea. “During he meeting with the chairman of the CEC, Mazahir Panahov, also touched upon the theme. Inking the figure is a good and new method and it was also discussed with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev,” he informed.
In reply to question on the return of the leader of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party, ex-Speaker Rasul Guliyev, Issa noted that the issue was a legal one, requiring detail study. The Congressmen noted the necessity of continuing the dialogue to find the golden mean. “We never get satisfied with the results of elections. Azerbaijan is state with young democracy and the forthcoming parliamentary elections should be one more step forward,” the Congressmen stressed. The opposition of any country, which failed in the elections, state on the unfair and false elections, they stressed.
Touching upon the organization of exit-polls in the end the congressmen stressed that it was an unjustified method. “During the last presidential elections n the United States we got assured how striking the results of exit-poll well as compared to official result of the elections. People are not frank always,” they pointed out.
The mission arrived in Baku on Wednesday to meet with high-level government officials, political leaders and energy representatives and to gain a better understanding of the pre-election situation.