Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan’s senior electoral body on Monday announced the final outcomes of the country’s December 23 municipal elections.
Natig Mammadov, the Central Election Commission (CEC) secretary, said the tallies reported on 1,709 local bodies have been endorsed, while those on nine municipalities revoked.
About 31,000 candidates contested a total of 15,682 seats in 1,718 local bodies as 16 political parties joined the election race. Voter turnout was 32.4 percent. The voting was conducted in 4,813 polling stations in 118 constituencies across the country.
According to Mammadov, 18 ballot stations and two constituency election commissions have been disbanded, and the chairmen of two constituency commissions dismissed. He added that materials on some irregularities will be submitted to the Prosecutor-General’s Office.
Mazahir Panahov, the CEC chairman, has said the election outcomes on political parties will be announced in the coming days, as relevant figures are being calculated.
Panahov added that repeat polls in the local bodies where the tallies were invalidated will be held in three months.
The December 2009 vote was the third municipal election held in Azerbaijan following local elections in 1999 and 2004. Some 16,755 candidates were nominated by political parties, while 14,073 were independent and 147 nominated by initiative groups. The election was monitored by nearly 50,000 observers.
The Council of Europe observers said the elections were organized well, but there is still a need for improvements.*