PRESS CONFERENCE HELD AT CEC
Having mentioned that executive orders “On Improvement of Election Practice in the Republic of Azerbaijan” of May 11, 2005 and “On Urgent Measures in connection with Preparation and Conduct of the Elections to Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan” show President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev’s political will to conduct free, democratic and transparent elections M. Panahov added that these documents had been positively assessed not only in Azerbaijan but also in the world.
According to him, CEC has already started solving the issues arising from the executive order. Thus, the CEC has prepared instructions on marking the fingers with invisible ink to later submit them for consideration to the CEC sitting to be held October 29.
Following the telephone conversation between President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, the Central Election Commission of Georgia gave 3000 bottles of ink and relevant ink-detecting devices to Azerbaijan. Considering there is a need in 5500 bottles and devices chairman noted that CEC began negotiations with Denmark to acquire the remaining balloons and devices. In accordance with the agreement, the balloons will be delivered in Azerbaijan on October 31.
Touching upon marking fingers with invisible ink and their checking on the day of elections M. Panahov said that one of the precinct election commissioners would apply the ink on the thumb of the left hand - ridge between the skin and the root of the nail. The other election commissioner will be checking the thumb with the device. If the device detects the thumb already ink-stained the voter will be strongly urged to quit the polling station. The finger-inking process may be observed by all the local and international observers.
According to the CEC decision, the polling stations with the number of voters totaling 500 will be provided with 1 bottle of ink, while 2 bottles will be given to polling stations with the voters numbered 500-1000, 3 bottles - polling stations with a number of voters ranging from 1000 to 1500. Moreover, the polling stations will be provided with extra devices and batteries.
With the finger-inking carried out for the first time in Azerbaijan CEC will hold a seminar-meeting for chairmen of the precinct election commissions (PEC) and update them on this process. Then, such seminar-meetings will be organized at the PECs for precinct election commissioners.
M. Panahov noted that some CEC-related issues in the executive order had also been tackled.
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