Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has met with the delegations of several international parliamentary organisations currently in our country for the monitoring of the presidential election. The 7 February presidential ballot’s compliance with high international standards and its conduct in a democratic environment were underscored in the conversations with the delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Arab Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of Black Sea Economic Co-operation and the Asian Parliamentary Assembly. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova remarked that the elections had for the first time been conducted all over our territory following the occupation that had lasted for almost 30 years. What else Mrs Gafarova said was that, again, it was for the first time that our compatriots returning to their homes thanks to the current restoration and re-building work in the de-occupied territories had been able to cast their votes whilst on their native soil.

The presidential election had gone fairly and in accordance with high international standards, continued the Speaker of the Milli Majlis. The total of 90,000 monitors including 790 international ones had been registered to ensure entire transparency of the process. The absolute majority of those observers had then offered positive conclusions and opinions about the ballot. At the same time, the Mass Media had been afforded every opportunity and arrangement for a comprehensive coverage of the proceedings.

Members of the delegations of the international parliamentary organisations congratulated at those meetings the Azerbaijani side on the high-level organisation of the presidential election. The guests had observed the vote live in several election districts; they voiced their satisfaction with the elevated standards of the preparations for the ballot as well as with how the process was arranged – in keeping with international standards – on the voting day. High constituency activity was mentioned as one of the key aspects of the election.

Matters related to our country’s co-operation with international parliamentary organisations were discussed at the meetings as well. It was said that the relevant links promoted the expansion of our country’s bilateral relations with the national legislatures of the organisations’ Member States and her co-operation with the parliamentary organisations alike.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis