Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has had meetings with the parliamentary monitoring missions of Pakistan, Jordan and Malaysia which had arrived in our country to observe the extraordinary presidential election.

Sahiba Gafarova expressed her gratitude to the guests for having monitored the elections of such a special significance in the context of Azerbaijani history. She proceeded to tell them that the presidential election was a political development of formidable importance in terms of shaping the future progress of the country. The extraordinary presidential election had for the first time gone on across the whole territory of our country including in Khankendi, Shusha and the other provinces, with the complete provision of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Having said that, the Speaker of the Milli Majlis pointed it out to the guests that a portion of the erstwhile IDP had been returned to the de-occupied territories and that those people had voted in the election whilst in their native parts.

As Speaker Sahiba Gafarova emphasised, every necessary step had been taken to ensure that the presidential election would be conducted freely, democratically and transparently. The election had been organised in compliance with the Law’s requirements and meeting all the advanced standards. The high voter turnout was one of the highlights. Our people had gone to the polling stations and voted for the future of our State.

Then, the Chair of the Milli Majlis said that many local and international monitors had been following the preparations for the election as well as the vote itself, going on to mention the favourable conclusions of the monitors regarding the election process.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee for Economic Affairs of the Senate of Pakistan Feisal Salim Rahman, First Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Representatives of Jordan Abdurrahim al-Maaia and Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Malaysia Nur Jazlan bin Mohamed as well as Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Ramli bin Mohd Nor congratulated our nation and State on the success of the election as they spoke at the respective meetings. It was said that the presidential ballot had been conducted democratically, in line with international standards, transparently and fairly. Citizens’ activity and the fact that they had come over to express their will freely from the moment the polling stations had opened are indicative of the fine organisation of the process, it was said at the meetings.

It was noted that the close attention of the youth to the election and their active participation in it had left a favourable impression on the guests.

The monitoring mission members praised the development of Azerbaijan, emphasising that Azerbaijan was a country open to the international community.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Pakistani Senate remarked that they had come to Azerbaijan to monitor the presidential elections in our country despite the fact that today elections are being held in Pakistan. This signifies of the importance attached to the relations between the two countries.

Besides, development of the bilateral ties as well as our inter-parliamentary relations’ today and tomorrow were discussed at those meetings.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis