Azernews.Az

The observation mission of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that monitored last Wednesday`s presidential election in Azerbaijan has praised the conduct of the election process.
"The election was in line with the country`s electoral legislation, it was transparent, and its results should be considered legitimate," Sergei Lebedev, head of the mission told a press conference on Thursday, calling the elections an important factor for democratic development in Azerbaijan.
Lebedev emphasized that the CIS mission had conducted observations in 3,726 polling stations. The process was low-key and complied with the law in all ballot stations, and all of them had been provided with needed information. Moreover, web-cameras, which were installed in 10% of polling stations, allowed observers to comprehensively track the electoral process.
At the same time, CIS observers pointed out some minor irregularities. For instance, they witnessed, in some election constituencies of Baku and Sumgayit, that posters of presidential hopefuls were left hanging from walls after being half-torn down.
394 CIS observers had been registered by the Central Election Commission (CEC), including 23 permanent observers. Members of the mission monitored the polling in Baku, Sumgayit and Ganja - the country`s largest cities - as well as in the Guba, Khachmaz and Lankaran districts, and in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
"The most remarkable event in the October 15 presidential election was the conduct of the election in a festive spirit, and, mainly, a more active participation of women. This was evident in essentially all ballot stations monitored," said Svetlana Orlova, a member of the CIS observation mission.
Among Orlova`s recommendations was removing the procedure of finger inking, which she described as unnecessary for a democratic country like Azerbaijan.
"True, finger inking is done during elections in all CIS states. But personally, I don`t think this is right. It appears as though CIS citizens have fallen behind and are living outside civilization, while the West is considerably ahead of us. Finger printing during the polling is inappropriate for a country with an abundant culture and history like Azerbaijan. This is, rather, seen as some form of mistrust of voters," said Orlova, voicing hope that the procedure would be cancelled in Azerbaijan and other leading CIS states in the future.
Over 1,200 international observers monitored the vote, including almost 400 from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). International observers also included representatives of the Council of Europe (CE), the European Parliament, the European Union, regional group GUAM, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Republican Institute (IRI), and Turkish Marmara Group.
Over 45,000 local observers monitored the voting.
More than 30 influential foreign media registered to cover the elections.
5,359 polling stations in 125 constituencies were open throughout the country, of which 5,148 operated permanently. Also, 33 ballot stations were based in Azerbaijan`s diplomatic missions abroad, while the rest were in military units, reformatories and treatment facilities, as well as in vessels navigating in the Caspian Sea and on other seas and oceans.
Further, in Baku, alone, 847 polling stations in 29 constituencies operated and the total number of votes cast in the capital exceeded 1,150,000.