Azerbaijani Parliamentary Election Meets All Democratic Standards - Ukrainian MP

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. All necessary democratic procedures have been observed in the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan, said Volodymyr Kreidenko, Ukrainian MP, co-chairman of the inter-parliamentary relations group with Azerbaijan and deputy member of the Permanent Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Trend reports.

“During our visit to Baku, the delegation inspected 10 polling stations. We found that all necessary conditions for voting were in place at each location. An interesting fact is that the number of candidates at each polling station ranged from 9 to 10, which indicates that all democratic procedures were being properly followed,” he said.

When asked about the conditions for observers, Kreidenko emphasized that there were no obstacles.

“Representatives of the Azerbaijani parliament actively supported the work of observers, providing all necessary assistance. The delegation was able to stay at the polling stations for as long as needed and received the most accurate information from election commission members and other observers,” he added.

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 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.

MENAFN01092024000187011040ID1108623985