Azernews.Az

Presidential elections started in Azerbaijan at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and polling is currently under way.
5,359 polling stations on 125 constituencies are open throughout the country, of which 5,148 are operating permanently. 33 ballot stations are based in Azerbaijan`s diplomatic representations abroad, while the rest - in military units, reformatory and treatment facilities, as well as in vessels navigating in the Caspian Sea and other world basins.
847 polling stations on 29 constituencies are operating in Baku alone. Total number of voters in the capital exceeds 1,150,000.
Ballot stations have been provided with invisible ink and special devices scanning it. 4,903,600 ballot papers, or 3% more than the overall number of voters, had been distributed among polling stations.
All constituency election commissions have been provided with computers and other required equipment. The PCs are connected to the State Automated Information System (SAIS), which ensures prompt transfer of all election data to the Central Election Commission`s (CEC) information center. The center released data at 10.00 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. This information was posted on the CEC`s websites.
Web cameras, installed in 500 ballot stations throughout the country to increase transparency of the electoral process, have been hooked up to these websites, www.msk.gov.az, www.cec.gov.az, and www.infocenter.gov.az. The cameras allow to track down the entire polling process except the procedure of the voter`s marking down the ballot sheet in the booth.
The number of eligible voters is over 4,800,000. About 10,000 of them are casting their ballots abroad. 1,258 international observers are monitoring the polling. These include representatives of the OSCE, the Council of Europe (CE), the European Parliament, the European Union, CIS, regional group GUAM, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Republican Institute (IRI), Turkish Marmara Group, as well as representatives of 59 countries.
Among the observers are Janez Lenarcic, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), as well as chairmen and members of the electoral commissions of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Latvia.
Over 45,000 local observers are monitoring the voting. These include representatives of political parties, non-governmental organizations and persons who had obtained an observer status at their own initiative.
More than 30 influential foreign media – including Turkish TRT TV channel, Georgian Rustavi-2 TV channel, Russian NTV channel, Radio Liberty, The Associated Press, AFP, Anatolian and ITAR-TASS news agencies, Russian Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, and Spanish publication El Pais - have been registered to cover the elections.
The polling will be over at 7 p.m., while preliminary tallies will be announced by the CEC at around 10 p.m.
The police are working on a tight schedule to provide safety during the electoral process. The Interior Ministry had developed a special plan of action to protect public order on election day.
The law enforcers received instructions on the requirements set forth in the Election Code, the CEC said. Under the rules, the police are to serve 100 meters away from ballot stations, and police officers are allowed to enter the facilities only upon a special request of the election commission chairman.
Seven candidates are running for the elections. These include the ruling New Azerbaijan Party`s chairman, incumbent President Ilham Aliyev; the leader of the Azerbaijan Liberal-Democratic Party, Fuad Aliyev; the former chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Supreme Council, independent candidate Gulamhuseyn Alibayli; as well as the leaders of the Umid (Hope) Party, Igbal Aghazada, Great Establishment Party, Fazil Gazanfaroghlu, the Whole Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, and Muasir (Modern) Musavat Party, Hafiz Hajiyev.
The main opposition leaders, however, are boycotting the elections.*