Azernews.Az

BAKU – Missions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will jointly monitor the parliamentary elections due in Azerbaijan on Sunday.

The two organizations will prepare a joint report based on their observations, said Rasto Kuzel, a representative of the OSCE ODIHR election observation mission.

During the previous elections held in Azerbaijan, the OSCE ODIHR and PACE observed the polling separately but issued a joint report on the outcome of the elections.

Kuzel said that international short-term observers began to arrive in Baku on Tuesday. 32 OSCE member states are delegating 305 representatives, with the largest number of observers being from Germany and the United States.

Along with OSCE ODIHR representatives, the elections will be followed by 100 observers from PACE and the European Parliament.

The observers will monitor the polling on election day and the count of ballot papers and votes.

Members of the OSCE’s long-term observation mission have been working in the country since September 28. The mission of about 40 observers has issued two interim reports on the elections.

PACE observers are due in Baku on Friday. The mission, headed by Belgian lawmaker Paul Ville, includes 35 MPs and experts.

The international observers will jointly issue a preliminary report on their findings a day after the elections, to be followed by a statement two months later assessing the overall conduct of the elections.

Voters will elect 125 members of parliament for a five-year term under the majority of votes. The number of registered voters is about 4.8 million in the country of 9 million people.