Azernews.Az

By Trend

The Azerbaijani Association for Civil Society Development (ACSDA) believes that the socio-political situation in Azerbaijan made it possible to hold free and transparent municipal elections, ACSDA Electoral Staff Head Maharram Zulfugarli said at a press conference in Baku, Trend reports from the event Dec. 24.

Zulfugarli said that on the elections day, five times a day (at 10:00, 12:00,15: 00,17: 00 and 19:00 (GMT +4), information on the voter turnout in polling stations, observed violations and other factors was collected in the ACSDA Electoral Staff.

“The voter turnout was 39.75 percent,” the head of ACSDA Electoral Staff noted. “On the elections day, observers identified some shortcomings at several polling stations, such as a delay in registering and providing a protocol on election results, lack of comfortable working conditions for observers etc.”

“In this regard, the representatives of such polling stations were promptly contacted, and were informed about the mentioned shortcomings,” Zulfugarli added. “A small number of such shortcomings didn’t affect the election results.”

Thus, ASCDA believes that the elections were transparent and held in accordance with the law and the norms of democracy.

Since February this year, the Association has carried out an extensive program in connection with the municipal elections in Azerbaijan. In particular, ASCDA provided support for the free, fair and democratic conduct of elections in accordance with the requirements of the Electoral Code of Azerbaijan, and organized election observation in accordance with Azerbaijan’s international commitments and international democratic standards.

On Dec. 13, 2019, the Interim Report (from February 14 to December 13) was presented to the public.

The report reflects information on the observance of freedom of speech and press, freedom of assembly, the pre-election political environment, the results of media monitoring, the nomination of candidates, their registration, electoral lists, the activities of the election administration, campaigns to promote the elections and the electoral process, as well as the activities of ASCDA.

On Oct.3, 2019, the Association held an event entitled “Municipal Elections: Local and International Choice.” On Nov.15, ASCDA held meetings to raise public awareness of municipal elections in the Azerbaijani districts.

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