Azernews.Az

The US embassy in Azerbaijan has hosted a closed-door meeting with representatives of local political parties, a party leader who attended the discussions said.
Chairman of opposition-leaning Civil Solidarity Party, Sabir Rustamkhanly, said that along with party leaders, the meeting was attended by Ambassador Anne Derse. A presentation was made and views exchanged on the election programs supported by the U.S. and information provided about future activities.
The US embassy did not provide any information about the meeting to the media.
The United States will spend over $3 million to support Azerbaijan's efforts to conduct a free and fair presidential election on October 15. The support will include the development of political parties, the strengthening of electoral systems, election observation efforts, and a parallel vote count to provide transparency of election results. After the US embassy made public the election programs, Azerbaijani officials termed this as interference with the country's internal affairs.
Rustamkhanly said US influence on the political developments in Azerbaijan "was not news".
"The United States has always provided financial aid to certain political forces on the eve of the elections. The National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, IFES and other institutions have been working in this area for many years."
Rustamkhanly said the rising uproar was due to the fact that US election assistance programs were divulged for the first time this year.
"This is actually a good thing. But there are many such pages that are yet to be opened. The U.S. has been assisting a number of media outlets and non-governmental organizations for many years, and we are not aware of this," the party leader said.
Rustamkhanly said superpowers had a number of interests in Azerbaijan and were striving to protect them. "In countries they have interests in, they try to capitalize on the election processes as much as possible and to maintain a grip on these processes. Ties are maintained for the purpose both with real authority and with second and third-echelon forces."
The meeting was attended by the chairmen of the Umid and Azerbaijan Democratic Party, acting chair of the Azerbaijan Liberal Party, the ruling New Azerbaijan Party's deputy executive secretary, as well as executives of Musavat and Azerbaijan Popular Front Party.