465 int'l observers to monitor parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan
By Aynur Karimova
The Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan has registered 465 international observers from 36 international organizations representing 53 countries for the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for November 1, CEC Chairman Mazahir Panahov told Secki2015.az website.
"They are the delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking States, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, the parliaments of Australia, Italy, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, a delegation from the House of Lords of Great Britain, the heads of delegations of the central election commissions from different countries, a delegation from the European Academy of Election Observation, GUAM, the American Political Monitoring Center and other authoritative bodies," he said.
The CEC chairman also noted that the number of persons who have independently appealed to the district election commissions to monitor the elections has exceeded 55,000.
"The majority of the Azerbaijani observers are the representatives of political parties," Panahov added.
October 26 is the last day for those who wish to monitor the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan to submit applications to the district election commissions of the respective constituencies.
According to the Electoral Code, an appeal for election observation should be submitted in a period from the date of the announcement and five days before voting day.
Good news for disabled voters
Panahov, who chaired a CEC meeting on October 24, said that special attention should be paid to the installation of ramps for disabled voters at the polling stations during the parliamentary elections.
"The installation of the ramps at the polling stations is a very progressive action," he said.
The CEC chairman also noted that the web cameras installed at the polling stations should be pointed at the tables of the commission members and the ballot box.
"Along with the parliamentary election, the election to the Supreme Majlis of Nakhchivan will be held,” he said. “Therefore, it should be clearly written in the Azerbaijani and English languages at the polling stations with web cameras in Nakhchivan that the election will be conducted to the Azerbaijani parliament and Ali Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic."
The webcams were installed in 1,000 polling stations in the regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with an aim to provide transparency to the electoral process.
A three-tier protection system would be used to ensure the smooth operation of mass media outlets, in particular TV channels as they will cover the election and the voting process.
An optical link will be used to transmit video to observers on Election Day. The voting process will be streamed online, and it will give voters an opportunity to monitor the results coming from polling stations.
Polling stations will also be provided with reliable telephone and Internet access.
This year, some 769 candidates will compete for seats in the Azerbaijan's supreme legislative body.
Preparations for voting will begin at 7:30 a.m. on November 1 in polling stations in Azerbaijan in accordance with the timetable.
Chairmen of the election commissions will declare polling stations open and the ballot boxes will be sealed at 7:50 a.m.
They will also announce the commencement of voting at 08:00 a.m. and the completion of the voting process at 7:00 p.m.
Information on the progress and results of the voting will be provided by the Information Center of the Secretariat of the CEC during the day at 10.00 a.m., 12.00 a.m., 3.00 p.m., 5.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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