Photo courtesy of the press service of the CIS Executive Committee
MINSK, 18 January (BelTA) – On 17 January the CIS election observation mission started working in Azerbaijan that is gearing up for the extraordinary presidential election scheduled for 7 February, BelTA learned from the press service of the CIS Executive Committee.
On the first day of the work, CIS First Deputy Secretary General Leonid Anfimov met with Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mazahir Panahov to discuss preparations for the election and the mission’s activities.
Leonid Anfimov noted that the CIS Executive Committee and the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan have built very close and fruitful relations.
“We have come to your country for the eleventh time to monitor elections and referendums, and each time we see that election campaigns are held at a very high level and that the Central Election Commission has done an enormous amount of work to prepare for elections,” the CIS first deputy secretary general emphasized.
According to him, the office of the CIS observation mission began working in Baku on 17 January. Its task is to determine how observers will operate in the run-up to and on voting day, and to distribute them among the regions of the country. The office will also assess the electoral legislation, conduct media monitoring, and resolve organizational and technical issues to support the mission’s activities.
Leonid Anfimov recalled that the mission is headed by CIS Secretary General Sergei Lebedev. The mission will include representatives of the CIS member states, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarus-Russia Union State, and the CIS Executive Committee.
“The mission will monitor the election within the framework of its mandate, independently, within the confines of the laws of the host country. We believe that elections are an internal matter of a state, so the task of the mission is to facilitate the holding of free and democratic elections,” Leonid Anfimov emphasized.
Mazahir Panahov told the CIS observers about the work of the electoral bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan to prepare for the election. He also told the observers in detail about the nomination and registration of presidential candidates.
