Azernews.Az

The November parliamentary elections will be a democracy test for Azerbaijan and "an opportunity to display what was learned from the previous elections", the Council of Europe Ambassador Veronika Kotek said Wednesday.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) and the CoE Venice Commission are holding two-day seminars and trainings in Baku over the consideration of election-related appeals and complaints. Representatives of district electoral commissions from 125 Azerbaijani constituencies are taking part in the trainings.
Kotek pointed to the need for creating an environment of trust to increase public confidence in the forthcoming elections. She also welcomed the efforts being made jointly with the CEC to ensure the conduct of a free and fair vote.
The CoE ambassador noted that CoE member states have assumed a commitment to protect people’s right to free elections, and one of the ways of meeting this commitment is ensuring an unbiased review of incoming complaints.
"All individual members of society are entitled to free elections. And that can’t be achieved without a system of an independent and effective review of complaints."
Kotek noted that the mechanism of considering complaints should be plain and simple. If a certain complaint is not reviewed, reasons for that should definitely be substantiated, she said.
Natig Mammadov, the CEC secretary, voiced hope that cooperation with international organizations will result in proper assessment of the elections based on facts.
"The CEC’s position is that we are not basing our work on praise, we do believe that we have to be self-critical. If any given person has failed to do his or her job properly, his or her being punished in accord with the law is, probably, something we all wish for."*