Azerbaijani parliament amends the Electoral Code

Today, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan has adopted amendments and additions to the national Electoral Code. The changes were brought in by President Ilham Aliev in the form of his legislative initiative.

Ali Guseinov, head of the parliamentary commission for legal policy and state management, has stated that the changes had been drafted with account of recommendations of the Venetian Commission of the Council of Europe and the Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE. The aim of the innovations is to update the electoral legislation towards the forthcoming on October 15 presidential election in Azerbaijan.

The head of the administration of the Azerbaijani president Ramiz Mekhtiev had earlier acknowledged that the changes are more likely of technical character. Thus, a provision has been introduced to indicate full addresses of citizens in voters' lists and marks voters with invisible ink; the order of inserting ballot papers into envelopes has been cancelled. A number of changes also refer to the voting procedures, consideration of complaints on violations, etc.

On their part, the opposition parties of Azerbaijan assert that the changes are insufficient for holding free, fair and democratic elections.