Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan's ruling New Azerbaijan Party has started a campaign of signature collection in support of Ilham Aliyev's candidacy in the October 9 presidential elections in Azerbaijan.

The ruling party launched a process of signature collection in support of its candidate beginning from August 1 by holding meetings of its regional branches in this regard.

On Saturday, the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan (CEC) approved Ilham Aliyev's candidacy for participation in the 2013 presidential elections.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will represent the ruling New Azerbaijan Party chaired by him.

Furthermore, the candidacy of Ahmed Oruj from the opposition Azadlig party was approved at the Sunday meeting of the CEC.

Chairman of the CEC Mazahir Panahov said the commission received an appeal in connection with the registration of chairman of Social Democratic Party, Araz Alizade, as a presidential candidate.

"Appeals by other applicants, including Alizade's, will be considered at the next meeting," Panahov said.

Meanwhile, CEC Spokesman Azer Sariyev said on Monday that Chairman of the United People's Front Party Gudrat Hasanguliyev has also submitted his documents to the CEC to join the upcoming presidential race.

Earlier, Citizens and Development Party Chairman Ali Aliyev, Liberal Democratic Party of Azerbaijan Chairman Fuad Aliyev, Umid Party Chairman Iqbal Aghazade and lawyer Ilgar Mammadov (Altai) submitted their documents to the CEC to register their candidatures for the upcoming elections.

Azerbaijani citizens who have the right of election, an initiative group of electors, political parties and blocs of political parties have the right to nominate candidates.

The documents of the candidates are to be submitted to the CEC from August 20 to September 9.

A candidate who gets a signature list should return it within a week and after that the CEC will solve the issue regarding his/her official registration.

The official election campaign will begin 23 days before the election. It will take place from September 19 to October 8.

Free airtime and space for publications will be allocated for registered presidential candidates as part of the pre-election campaign. Free air time will be allocated to the candidates on Public Television and Radio Broadcasting company, while space for publications will be provided in Azerbaijan, Khalq Gazeti, Respublika and Bakinskiy Rabochiy newspapers.

If other broadcasters and periodicals decide to allocate paid air time and space for publication within the pre-election campaign, they are required to notify the CEC. Information about the conditions and payment is to be published no later than 35 days after the official announcement of the decision to schedule the elections.