Azerbaijan announces members of NCDF

The National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) of Azerbaijan includes the members of a number of parties and public associations of the country, human rights defenders and opposition leaders who plan to nominate a united candidate in the upcoming presidential election.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the establishment of the NCDF was announced on May 28. The aim of the Council is to consolidate the efforts of oppositional organizations towards holding free and fair presidential election with a subsequent reform of the political system.

On June 7, the office of the Civil Solidarity Party (CSP) hosted the inaugural sitting of the NCDF; the screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov, who is currently abroad, was elected the Chairman of the NCDF.

In total, the sitting was attended by 97 people: leaders and activists of opposition parties, activists of the civil society, and figures of the scientific and creative intelligentsia.

The personal composition of the NCDF was defined in the course of many-month-long consultations held by the country's leading opposition forces and the Forum of Azerbaijani Intelligentsia.

The NCDF members are representing a broad spectrum of political forces: from the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan to the liberal right-wing oppositionists.

So far, the Azerbaijani leadership has not yet commented the creation by the opposition of the NCDF of Azerbaijan.