POLITICS
PRESS-CONFERENCE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION
Chairman of the Central Election Commission Mazahir Panakhov held October 15 at 21.40 a press-conference in the press center “Sechkilyar” /Elections/. Addressing the journalists, the CEC Chairman said: “Presidential elections in Azerbaijan started in 5129 election districts at 8.00 a.m., voting finished at 7.00 p.m. and the calculation of the votes is now in progress. Until now, we have not had the information from seven constituencies. In all, preliminary results for the moment are as follows: 3 million 111 thousand 279 votes went to the polling. This makes up 71,7 percent of the electors. During the day, a great number of observers have been present in the polling stations. As you could see, Azerbaijan’s community has taken a serious approach to the elections. Heavy polling have been observed practically in all regions of Azerbaijan. The observers represent very authoritative international organizations: Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, OSCE Bureau of Democratic Institutes and Human Rights, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, CIS, delegation of CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly, foreign embassies, as well as local observers, those representing registered candidates, and mass media. In all, I can say with a feeling of deep satisfaction that the elections have been held freely, on the base of principles of transparency and democracy. No notifications on serious violations have been submitted to the Central Election Commission.”