Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan is on the threshold of an important political event, as the country will hold elections to the supreme legislative body on November 1. On this day roughly 5.2 million Azerbaijani citizens, who enjoy the right to vote, will come to polling stations to express their constitutional right to elect their representatives to the parliament.

The time allotted for candidates to conduct their campaigns ended today at 08:00 a.m. Thus, October 31 is Silence Day before the Election Day.All forms of political campaigning are prohibited for political parties and candidates.

This year, 769 candidates - the representatives of 15 political parties and one bloc of parties, which represents seven parties, will compete for seats in Azerbaijan's Parliament.

Voting preparations will begin at 7:30 a.m. on November 1 in polling stations in Azerbaijan in accordance with the timetable.

Chairmen of the electoral commissions will declare polling stations open and the ballot boxes will be sealed at 7:50 a.m.

They will also announce the commencement of voting at 08:00 a.m. and the completion of the voting process at 7:00 p.m.

Information on the progress and results of the voting will be provided by the Information Center of the Secretariat of the CEC during the day at 10.00 a.m., 12.00 a.m., 3.00 p.m., 5.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m.

The CEC has established 5,415 permanent and 132 temporary polling stations.

Webcams were installed in 1,000 polling stations in the regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with an aim to provide transparency to the electoral process.

A three-tier protection system would be used to ensure the smooth operation of mass media outlets, in particular TV channels that will cover the election and the voting process.

An optical link will be used to transmit video to observers on Election Day. The voting process will be streamed online, and it will give voters an opportunity to monitor the results coming from polling stations.

Polling stations will also be provided with reliable telephone and Internet access.

International organizations and foreign media are showing significant interest in the upcoming elections. The parliamentary elections to be held on November 1 will be monitored by 66,000 observers.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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