Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. I.Alizadeh / No drastic changes have been made in the Azerbaijani Election Code. The issue concerning possible changes in the Code has not been included in to the agenda of the autumn session of the Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani Parliament), Ziyafat Askarov, the Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission on Security and Defense Issues and vice speaker, said on 21 September.
"No drastic changes have been made in the Election Code of Azerbaijan. The current code allows for holding democratic elections," Askarov said.
International organizations propose that changes be introduced into the Election Code of Azerbaijan. The negotiations on the issue are being held between Azerbaijan, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, and the Bureau of Democratic Universities and Human Rights of the OSCE. The next meeting will be held in Baku on 20 and 21 October.
International organizations propose to form the election commissions with participation of representatives from the Authorities and the opposition. The Azerbaijani opposition supports the proposal. However, the Authorities consider the current commissions to meet international standards.
The negotiations between Azerbaijan and international organizations due to the Election Code have not been completed and were not included into the autumn session of the Parliament.
If the negotiations are to be completed they will be included into the issues discussed at the autumn session of the Parliament, Askarov said.
Procedural and technical changes may be made in the Election Code.