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Abbas Ganbay

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On 28 December, Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov met with the head of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights mission Johan Murphy in connection with the extraordinary presidential election of the Republic of Azerbaijan scheduled for 7 February 2024, Azernews reports.

According to the Media and Communications Department of the Secretariat of the Central Election Commission, the CEC Chairman welcomed the head and members of the observation mission and expressed satisfaction with the meeting.

Expressing his gratitude to Chairman Mazahir Panahov for finding time for the meeting despite the busy reception at the CEC and busy schedule, Johann Murphy informed about the structure and composition of the election observation mission. The mission members inquired about the preparations for the upcoming elections and asked the CEC Chairman to inform them about the ongoing and planned projects.

Chairman M. Panahov underlined that the structure headed by him attaches great importance to relations with international organisations, is always open for cooperation and all processes are carried out in conditions of wide publicity.

The Chairman talked of Azerbaijan's electoral system, electoral legislation, principles of activity of electoral commissions, and various projects implemented and envisaged in connection with the upcoming elections.

Saying that the preparation for the elections is going on consistently and systematically, the Chairman noted that in the extraordinary elections of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 5 political parties have been nominated so far, 10 have been nominated by the candidates themselves, in total 15 persons have been approved by relevant decisions of the CEC.

M. Panahov also noted that by the requirements of the Electoral Code, the submitted signature sheets and other election documents are currently being checked by a professional working group. The CEC Chairman invited the members of the election observation mission to actively participate at any time both in the verification of signature sheets and in any other election-related procedures.

He noted that, like all stages, ample opportunities have been created to observe these processes, which are carried out in full transparency and open to the public.

Like other stakeholders, they can always directly observe the developments.

The meeting also included an exchange of views on some issues of mutual interest.

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