International Observer Team Performs Monitoring of Snap Parliamentary Elections in Baku and Regions of Azerbaijan Republic

On 15 January, members of the IPA CIS International Observer Team continued their work of monitoring the early parliamentary elections to the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic: they visited the Constitutional Court of the Azerbaijan Republic where they met with Chairman of the Constitutional Court Farkhad Abdullayev, the court judges and Head of Secretariat of the Constitutional Court. During the meeting, the IPA CIS representatives got acquainted with the powers of the Constitutional Court, discussed the procedure of dissolution of Parliament and calling snap elections. The participants of the meeting agreed on information exchange and participation of the representatives of the Constitutional Court of the Azerbaijan Republic in the IPA CIS events.

On 15 January, the observers also met with representatives of political parties and social movements, which had put forward candidates for the upcoming elections.

Leader of the Party for Democratic Reforms of Azerbaijan Asim Mollazade informed the representatives of the observer team on the political programme of the party, goals and objectives during the ongoing electoral campaign and gave the general assessment of the campaign. He has not mentioned any complaints with regards to the work of the electoral management bodies or the representatives of the public authorities.

During the meeting with the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, its Leader Gudrat Hasanguliyev highlighted the main features of the political system of the Azerbaijan Republic and the key objectives of his party at the elections.

At the meeting with Deputy Chairman, Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Akhmedov, the observers got acquainted with the program of the majority party for the current electoral campaign, its strategies and features of campaigning in the capital and in the regions, as well as the new list of candidates.

The representatives of the party noted that the snap elections would contribute to speeding up reforms, primarily in the political sphere. The party plans to maintain its majority in the parliament based on the electorate’s support of the President policy, respect and trust to the incumbent MPs.

On 16 January, the representatives of the expert group of the IIMDD IPA CIS and the IIMDD IPA CIS Baku office participated in the seminar “Media Coverage of Elections”, organized by the Central Election Commission of the Azerbaijan Republic. The event was attended by the representatives of the leading media of the Azerbaijan Republic, independent journalists, bloggers and representatives of the professional media organizations. The participants of the seminar discussed the issues of journalists’ ethics, gender equality and media regulation.

The representatives of the observer team visited four district and local election commissions in Baku, two district and several local election commissions in Ganja, where they were informed on the training of the members of commissions, preparation of the polling stations, and work with electoral lists.