Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan (ACSDA) issued a statement on October 9-presidential elections in Azerbaijan. Head of ACSDA elections staff Maharram Zulfugarli said statement reads that in order to help improvement of elections experience, hold more democratic and transparent presidential elections, the observation was conducted at 4,813 polling stations of 118 constituencies: “In organization of this work, 95 seminars were held in regions by the participation of ACSDA trainers, members of the elections staff cooperated with the Council of Europe and the OSCE Office on the eve of the elections, 6 meetings were held between the international observation missions of the CoE and OSCE IDHR in Baku and the regions. The association released the preliminary information on results of the elections the public on elections day at 21:00 pm. Final report will be presented on October 18. On elections day, in some areas of the country some problems observed in connection with the publication of campaign, application of marker ink on voters’ fingers, allocation of places for observers, their registration. In addition, in some areas, the committee members did not allow observers to observe the process of counting at close range, there were attempts not to give copy of the report on results of the election to observers. ACSDA lawyers will gather these facts and appeal to the relevant authorities. But such law violations were reported only in a few areas and so it did not affect the results of the elections”.
“ACSDA notes that October 9-presidential elections were held transparently and fairly in line with the international standards; elections atmosphere was more stable, constructive and democratic in comparison to other years; these elections are important step in future of Azerbaijani nation, development of state, establishment of civil society”, Zulfugarli said.