Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani election is democratic, objective and legitimate, Head of the CIS observation mission, Executive Secretary of the organization Sergei Lebedev said at the press-conference on the results of the presidential election on October 10.

According to him, visiting 1,973 polling stations from September 10, the mission witnessed thorough work on preparation for the election.

"The purpose of the mission was to see whether the voters' rights are not violated and whether the election corresponds to the country's legislation," Lebedev said.

The presidential election was held in accordance with the requirements of the country's legislation, he said.

The majority of the meetings held in Azerbaijan with the presidential candidates and the authorities allowed getting a sufficiently objective picture of the election, the head of CIS mission stressed.

According to the CIS observers, the election process was held in a very organized way, as well as in terms of technical equipment, including the transparent ballot boxes and the presence of webcams at 1,000 polling stations, he said.

The presence of first-aid posts and children's room in each polling station also contributed to the voters' convenience, Lebedev said.

"There was also provided opportunity for those who were not able to attend he polling stations personally," he said.

The mission, who was composed of diplomats, CEC members and six CEC heads from CIS countries, visited the country's many regions, Lebedev said.

The mission prepared a draft conclusion which will be announced later.

The Azerbaijani presidential election was held on October 9. According to the initial results, President Ilham Aliyev got 2,282,936 votes (84.73 percent).

This year ten candidates competed for the top job, including chairman of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, President Aliyev, Umid Party leader Igbal Aghazade, self-nominated candidate Zahid Oruj, chairman of the United Popular Front Party Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Modern Musavat party leader Hafiz Hajiyev, Azerbaijan Social Democratic Party chairman Araz Alizade, National Revival Party leader Faraj Guliyev, chairman of the Adalat (Justice) party Ilyas Ismayilov, Jamil Hasanli from the opposition National Council as well as chairman of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party Sardar Jalaloghlu.

The number of eligible voters in the country is nearly 5,145,000. The voting is conducted in 5,492 polling stations. Thirty-eight polling stations were set up abroad.