Presidential election starts in Azerbaijan
Baku, October 9 (AZERTAC). Polling stations opened throughout Azerbaijan at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, October 9, as the country`s citizens start casting ballots for one of the ten presidential candidates.
The voting is conducted in 125 constituencies - 5,492 polling stations - of which 5,273 are permanent and 219 are located in Azerbaijan’s embassies, consulates general and permanent representations in foreign countries, as well as in ships navigating under the country`s national flag in the Caspian Sea and international waters, military units, sanatoriums, treatment and correctional facilities.
All polling stations were provided with indelible ink and special devises for reading it.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) issued a total of 5,149,255 ballot papers for the election.
All constituencies were provided with computers and other necessary equipment.
The computers are connected to the State Automated Information System by optical fiber cables to ensure immediate delivery of available information to CEC`s “Sechkiler” information center.
On the Election Day, the Central Election Commission will issue five reports (10.00, 12.00, 15.00, 17.00, and 19.00) through the State Automated Information System which will be available at the commission’s official websites (www.msk.gov.az; www.cec.gov.az; www.infocenter.gov.az).
Some 1000 polling stations (20 percent) are equipped with webcams (except in voting booths) to provide internet users with an opportunity to watch the whole voting process online. The list of the webcam-equipped polling stations is available at CEC`s websites, and was published in the press.
The number of eligible voters in the country is nearly 5,145,000.
The voting is monitored by approximately 1,400 international observers representing the OSCE, OSCE ODIHR, the Council of Europe, PACE, European Parliament, European Union, CIS, CIS PA, TurkPA, the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States and other international organizations, as well as representatives from nearly 60 countries.
Chiefs and members of central electoral commissions of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey, and Latvia are also in Azerbaijan to observe the election.
About 52,000 local observers, including representatives of political parties, NGOs and independent observers monitor the voting process.
The election is covered by nearly 100 foreign mass media outlets, including TRT, NTV and Mir television channels, BBC, Bloomberg News, Anadolu, Reuters, France-Presse, ITAR-TASS, Associated Press, and Xinhua news agencies, as well as New York Times and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers.
Polling stations close at 19.00.
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