Azernews.Az

A group of lawmakers of the governing Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party (YAP) suggested on Wednesday that the draft law on changes to the country’s election laws be heard in parliament. The proposed amendments will be discussed at the Milli Majlis sitting due on June 18.
Two amendments are mainly proposed to the Electoral Code. One of them calls for reducing the duration of the electoral process to 60 days from the current 75 days. If the proposed changes are approved, accordingly, pre-election campaigns will run for 23 days instead of 28 days.
The other proposal pertains to removing from the Electoral Code the provisions on allocating state funds to election candidates.
Staunchly opposition political parties did not back YAP’s proposals.
Ali Karimli, chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, claimed that the amendments would limit the duration of pre-election campaigns, which would deal a blow to the democratic conduct of elections.
"The government, counter to the efforts of international organizations and their citizens, is endeavoring toward the conduct of elections in more undemocratic conditions," Karimli alleged. "The Azerbaijani authorities thus officially admit that they are concerned over civil activeness and the conduct of election campaigns in the country. They are doing everything then can so that citizens wouldn’t be able to be actively involved in the country’s political life."
The leader of Musavat party Isa Gambar, while commenting on the proposed amendments, called for tabling in parliament the proposals aiming to ensure the holding of democratic elections. In his opinion, the proposed changes indicate that the authorities "beware of elections, the people and real opposition".
"The authorities are trying to turn elections into a formal procedure as much as possible and are pursuing this policy by restricting the term of election campaigning, promotion opportunities and candidates’ financial standing," Gambar maintained.
Monica Martinez, a program manager at the OSCE Office in Baku, said the OSCE supports broad discussions on the election law changes.
"We don’t believe cutting off state funding across the board would be right," Martinez said. "Also, election candidates should be provided as much time as it is necessary to campaign."*