10 candidates to run for presidency in Azerbaijan

In total, 10 pretenders will continue their race for the post of the Azerbaijani President. Today, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has registered Sardar Mamedov (Jalaloglu), Chairman of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, and refused to register Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the civil movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), and Ali Aliev, Chairman of Citizens' and Development Party.

As reported by the CEC, the reason for the denial was in the insufficient number of valid signatures, collected and submitted in favour of the last two candidates.

Ali Aliev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he disagreed with the CEC's decision and treated it as biased and politically motivated, caused by his and his party's criticism of the authorities' policies.

The ReAl has also disagreed with the decision of the CEC. According to Natig Djafarli, the Executive Secretary of the movement, the ReAl will seek to restore Mamedov in the position of a presidential candidate by all means envisioned by the law. Should they fail locally, the respective applications about violations of Mamedov's electoral rights will be sent to international organizations, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

In total, out of the 14 candidates, who had submitted more than the required 40,000 voters' signatures, 10 were registered.