Baku, February 11, AZERTAC

The Malaysian Bernama News Agency has published an article headlined “International observers hail democratic nature of Azerbaijan's parliamentary election.”

Written by Editor of the agency’s International Desk Rachminakan Ravichandran, the article highlights the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.

The article says: “The just-concluded Azerbaijan snap parliamentary election yesterday (Sunday) has been hailed and described as free and fair by many international observers.

A member of the TURKPA (Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking Countries) observation mission, deputy Ziyadin Zhamaldinov was quoted as saying that the huge number of candidates contesting in the election was evidence of the presence of pluralism and freedom in Azerbaijan and high level of public involvement in democratic processes.

"We believe that the early elections to the Milli Majlis comply with democratic principles, international standards, as well as international obligations of the Republic of Azerbaijan," Zhamaldinov said, as reported by the “Election-2020” Independent Media Centre ("Secki-2020" Independent Media Centre).

A total of 1,314 candidates from 19 parties contested in the election.

The “Election-2020” Independent Media Centre was organized by the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan.

The objective of the Media Centre is to promptly inform the Azerbaijani public, local and foreign journalists about the parliamentary elections and the voting processes, as well as the activity of election institutions, observation missions and exit polls.

An international observer from Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Batyrbekov - who had observed the voting process in Baku, Shamakhi and Gobustan - was quoted by the centre's report as saying that the Kyrgyz observation mission did not record any violations while observing the voting process.

Ukrainian MP and a member of the observation mission of GUAM Parliamentary Assembly Maryan Zablotskiy was reported as describing the election as free and fair, and that the parliamentary elections have been held in accordance with international standards and legislature of Azerbaijan.

“All the conditions have been created for voters to freely express their will,” he was quoted as saying by the centre.

The GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development is a regional organization of four post-Soviet states: Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova.

In a remark at a press conference in Baku, member of the observation mission of the Georgian parliament Savalan Mirzoyev said the voting process was held democratically and transparently at all polling stations visited.

David Evans, a member of the House of Lords of Parliament of Great Britain, was quoted as saying that the snap parliamentary elections have taken place in accordance with the relevant procedures.

The Independent Media Centre also quoted the Director-General of the Islamabad Centre for Global and Strategic Studies, Khalid Teymur Akram, who describes the Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan as "free, democratic and transparent,”.

"We did not witness any violations of the law or illegal acts. This is a step towards a successful future for Azerbaijan and it will have a positive impact on our relations," Khalid was reported as saying.

Yesterday, the centre also reported the vice president of the French Senate Foreign Relations and Defence Committee Joel Guerriau as telling a press conference that he had conducted observations at 20 polling stations during the election day.

"In particular, I would like to mention the inking of fingers in the election process," he was reported as saying.

"Another interesting point was related to new generation ID cards, which provide easy access to voter information," he further said.

Another French observer, Yves Metero, was reported as saying that that the Electoral Code was prepared in an understandable language and that elections were held in normal conditions.

Meanwhile, deputy of the Bavarian Parliament of Germany Uli Henkel, who observed the election, was quoted by the centre yesterday as describing the elections as transparent and democratic.

The Deputy of the Greek Parliament Lazaros Tsavdaridis was reported as saying that they were in four polling stations yesterday and that no violations were seen.

"We were able to do our work. We talked with voters, observers, representatives of political parties and volunteers. My opinion is that the elections were held at a high level and democratic. I am happy that the elections are held at a high level in Azerbaijan," he was quoted as saying.

Some 89,676 local and 883 international observers have been granted accreditation to observe the election, while web-cameras have been installed at about 1,000 polling stations. Some 199 representatives from 132 international mass media outlets have been given access to cover the election.”