A private opinion of the co-chairs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), on the November parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan would be groundless amid obvious facts, Bakhtiyar Aliyev, an Azerbaijani parliamentary representative to the PACE, told Trend.
Basing on some irregularities observers in the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan Andreas Gross and Andreas Herkel, the co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee, the issue of Azerbaijan’s membership in the organization was questionable.
Aliyev said that a report by the PACE co-rapporteurs on the elections will be discussed at the plenary meeting of the PACE, scheduled for late January 2006. “However, the arguments forwarded cannot illegally become a mean of pressure on Azerbaijan, because the parliamentary elections and different international observers were in a good opinion of the parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan.
Aliyev also noted that Gross held an observation in the constituencies of his interest. “I proposed him to hold observation in the constituency based in refugee camp where I balloted with respect to get familiar with their plight. However, Gross did not accept this proposal,” he stressed.