Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Azerbaijani government is ready to fulfill all of its obligations to ensure equal rivalry among all candidates to stand in the November 7 parliamentary elections, a presidential aide said Tuesday.

Ali Hasanov said every effort would be made to ensure the conduct of free and democratic elections.

He said, further, that as election day approaches, anxiety grows among the Azerbaijani public.

"The function on the role of the media in the electoral process being organized by the OSCE on August 24 proves that. The main point was that all hopefuls should enjoy equal conditions during the parliamentary elections; for the media to cover election campaigns to the greatest extent; for private television channels to broadly cover the elections on the basis of payment; and for an environment of free elections to be formed. As the authorities, we are ready for that."

The presidential administration official said "a green light" has been lit for the media, pledging that no administrative resources limiting its involvement in the elections will be used.

According to Hasanov, overall, the OSCE’s recent proposals on Azerbaijan’s elections promote increasing the transparency and democratization of the election climate.

"We think that most of these recommendations complying with the Electoral Code and election practices in Azerbaijan, the part promoting the conduct of democratic elections, will definitely be taken into consideration," Hasanov said.

The OSCE suggests that the number of documents required for the registration of candidates should be reduced, conditions improved for observers to monitor the vote count and the procedures of reviewing complaints expedited.