CHAIRMAN OF CEC: “IF THERE IS A VIOLATION IN REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES WITH PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS, SUCH CANDIDATES WILL BE DISQUALIFIED”

Today, Azerbaijan
Oct 5 2005

Interview with the chairman of the Central Elections Commission (CEC),
Mazahir Panahov.

Question: Is the process on clarification of electors’ list held by
the CEC complete. Was the electors’ list on Khankandi constituency
compiled?

Answer: List of electors, who are Azerbaijani by origin, in the
Khankandi constituency has been compiled. However, the list of
citizens, Armenian by origin, is still to be compiled. Even unless the
list of clarified, the results of elections on Khankandi constituency
will be considered as adopted, because there no quorum on number of
electors in the Azerbaijani legislation. So, the participation of
electors, Azerbaijanis by origin, in the elections will be enough
to consider the results of voting as legal. The international
organizations also gave positive estimation to the establishment of
the Khankandi constituency. An interim report by the OSCE Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Election Observation
Mission (EOM) to the Republic of Azerbaijan Parliamentary Elections
in particular stressed the issue.

Question: The document also contains some notes in connection with
the pre-election processes in Azerbaijan. How do you estimate the
interim report by the OSCE/ODIHR and EOM?

Answer: The report is normal and balanced, while there are some
milestones which I can’t agree with. I think they take wrong position
in connection with participation of religious leaders. The precinct
elections commissions did not register the candidacy of the head of
religious Jewish community, Mr. Zelmanovich, as the Constitution of
Azerbaijan bans the election of religious leaders to the parliament.

The OSCE tries to make suspicious that Zelmanovich is a religious
leader. However, he himself indicted his official position in the
document submitted to the precinct elections commission as the
head of the Jewish religious community. The head of the religious
community is a clerical leader, so the precinct elections commission
did not register his candidacy and the CEC maintained the resolution
in force. OSCE makes notes in this respect, while I’m sure there is
no ground for dissatisfaction. Besides, there are notes in connection
with the cancellation of the candidacy of the chairman of the Islamic
Party, Hajiaga Nuri. There is no any restriction in the registration
of the political parties in Azerbaijan in respect to their religious
activities. To my mind, such notes included in the report do not
correspond to reality as well. The rest can be somehow accepted. As
of general estimation, the pre-elections developments go on well. The
international organizations, in particular, their observation missions
do not consider as necessary to mark the satisfactory peculiarities of
the situation. They mainly note and inform about the shortcomings. As
it seems, no serious shortcomings were indicated in the report.

Question: How many international observers will observe the elections?

Answer: Over 100 international observers have been registered thus
far. Their total number attains even 1000 people. Vladimir Rushaylo,
the chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, will pay a visit to Baku
on 5 October with his delegation. The mission of observers plans
to hold meetings with the leadership of the CEC and discuss the
pre-elections processes. I guest the CIS mission will be satisfied
with the current stage of elections and work done by the CEC thus far
for holding elections. Question: How do you estimate the process of
electioneering? Answer: I think this stage develops quite normally.

We should not lose from sight the number of candidates to participate
in the elections is quite high. Over 2,000 candidates ballot for
deputy mandate. So, it would not be real to name everything as
ideal and urge that all candidates will behave correctly. In some
cases they lay accusation on each other. As a chairman of the CEC,
I would like not to see such facts. Some candidates even come out
against the statehood, which is also unacceptable.

Question: Some complaints are made on the heads of the Executive
Powers, state officers, involved in the elections process. Some
candidates, abusing their better financial status, try to attract
the voters. Does the CEC take relevant steps in regard to such people?

Answer: We studied some complaints and revealed that they did not
correspond to reality. Some problems sometimes are exaggerated. In
case the complaints do not correspond to reality, people who commit
law-breaks are warned. The CEC takes steps in accordance with the
law. The candidacy of those who made serious violations can be
disqualified in the end.

Question: When will the results of the investigation into cases of
candidate with previous accusations be publicized?

Answer: the CE secretaries are seriously involved in it. As a result
we will define how legal the registration of the candidates is. In
general, 10 candidates are suspected to have such accusations.

Shortly, the court will provide the reply and the CEC will take a
final resolution. If any law-break is revealed, the candidate will
be immediately disqualified. The results will be publicized late
this week.

Question: The opposition parties and blocs are anew going to appeal
to the CEC with request to combine the free air time allocated them.

Could the proposal be implemented?

Answer: No, the proposal fully contradicts the legislation. Even if
the CEC wants, it cannot do it. So, the CEC did not consider the
appeal. The CEC secretaries explained it with irrelevance of such
proposals with their competency. The CEC Secretary, Vidadi Mahmudov,
held talks with the applicants. As to their dissatisfaction with
the duration of air time, it concerns only the free air time. The
candidates can use the paid air time as much as they want. AzTV and
the Public TV offer better conditions for candidates. I guess, there
is no ground for dissatisfaction.

Question: Were the shortages in covering the elections removed after
the CEC’s appeal to media?

Answer: Yes, the TV channels have fully observed the law and the
process of covering of the elections develops normally. The mistakes
made earlier are also eliminated.