Official Baku to receive response of CE Venetian commission on draft alteraions in election code till weekend

"The experts regret, that most of joint recommendations of the CE Venetian Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) from 2004 have not found due effect in the draft, put forward by the authorities on 25 April 2005. The draft, particularly, does not touch upon the problem of the election commissions' composition. Most sentences in the text refer only to clarifying of the law's existing clauses", the structure noted.

Along with this, the Venetian Commission noted, that the draft contains a number of proposals that could affect positively the Elections. However, as it had been noted, many recommendations of 2004 have not been reflected in the draft, therefore, we cannot talk of the "positivity" of the text", the CE body stated.

The Venetian Commission appreciates positively statements of the Azerbaijani authorities of their intentions to hold free democratic elections. The CE hopes, that these statements will be followed by the specific measures, able to ensure democratic elections.

The Commission deems, that fair elections can be held in Azerbaijan also in case of introducing proposed by the authorities changes into the Election Code. "Along with this, we should like to underline, that the legislature only is not enough. It is necessary, that this legislation would be applied efficiently", they stressed.

"We hope that we will be able to hold a meeting with representatives of authorities in early June. The Date and place of talks have not been precised so far, as well as the format of the meeting", summarized the officials of the Venetian Commission.