There is no chance for Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin living in Armenia or in any other country to participate in the second round of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, the Secretary of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Natig Mammedov, told Trend.
The Armenian agency Arka, linking to other Armenian mass media sources reports that a number of Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin living in Armenia have showed interest in participating in the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan and even put forward their candidatures for nomination. They have contacted CEC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan with the same intentions. In case if it is not possible for them to participate in elections in Azerbaijan, they have suggested opening electoral commission in the third country.
Mammedov has noted that they [CEC] do not possess this sort of information. He also added that according to the Azerbaijani legislature it is not possible for persons living in other countries to participate in elections. To do so, they first have to prove their citizenship. On the other hand, both nominations for elections and subscription lists submission stages have already finished on March 13. This means, that no citizen, irrespective of nationality can participate in the electoral process at this stage.
The Azerbaijani legislature does not have regulations providing creation of the electoral commissions in the third countries and holding parliamentary elections there, the head of CEC also added. The Azerbaijani Constitution identifies rights of every citizen, irrespective of his/her nationality to elect and be elected, even if they are Armenians. These rights are accepted and protected by the state. However, at this stage it is too late to register those Azeri citizens of Armenian origin willing to participate in elections. They had to address CEC in the identified by the law legitimate for elections time span, CEC Secretary said.