Azernews.Az

Deputy Chairman and Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov met with the First Deputy Head of French delegation to OSCE PA, special coordinator appointed by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to observe elections in Azerbaijan, Michel Voisin and the head of France-Azerbaijan Friendship Group in French parliament ,Thierry Mariani, at the party headquarters on September 18.

The sides mulled preparations for presidential elections in Azerbaijan, agitation company, as well as the activity of international observers.

Presidential elections in Azerbaijan will be held on October 9.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry last month invited a number of international organizations to send observer missions to monitor the vote. These included the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the CIS Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS).

The presidential campaign started on September 16 with incumbent Ilham Aliyev seeking a third term in office.

Aliyev was elected president in 2003 with 77 percent of the vote and re-elected in 2008 with 87 percent.

Over 80 percent of Azerbaijanis are ready to vote him, according to a recent poll conducted by the non-governmental Ray (Opinion) research group.