Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan is ready to cooperate with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at the upcoming presidential elections, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said on August 29 at a meeting with the delegation of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission.

The pre-election situation in Azerbaijan and the conditions provided for international and local observers to monitor the October 9 elections were in focus at the meeting.

The Azerbaijani minister said that the government of Azerbaijan has created all the conditions necessary for the work of the OSCE observation mission.

Mission head Tana de Zulueta spoke about the program of monitoring the presidential elections in Azerbaijan and the composition of the monitoring mission, as well as the short-term and long-term missions.

Members of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission were received by the chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov as well.

Tana de Zulueta told journalists that the OSCE observation mission will monitor the registration of candidates and campaigning.

According to her, the ODIHR will assess the compliance of Azerbaijan's presidential elections with OSCE commitments and other international standards of democratic elections, as well as with the domestic legislation.

"Observers will closely monitor the process of the registration of candidates, campaigning activities, the work of the election administration and relevant government agencies, enforcement of the electoral law and the media environment," de Zulueta said.

According to the program of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, the core team of the election observation mission consists of 13 international experts.

Around 310 professional observers from the OSCE/ODIHR will observe the presidential elections, 30 of whom are long-term and 280 short-term observers.

Earlier head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan Roland Kobia welcomed the agreement between the government of Azerbaijan and the ODIHR to enable an election observation mission to monitor the presidential elections.

According to the Constitution, the president of Azerbaijan is elected for a five-year term through general, direct and equal elections, by free, private and secret voting.

Azerbaijani citizens who have the right of election, initiative groups of electors, political parties and blocs of political parties are entitled to nominating candidates.