Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. I.Alizadeh / The refusal by the four Azerbaijani opposition parties to take part at the discussions dedicated to improve the Election Code of Azerbaijan was due to lack of concrete proposals on the issues.
"The discussions cover both experience and theory. However, these opposition parties do not know the work mechanism of election legislation in experience," Siyavush Novruzov, the deputy Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and member of the permanent Parliamentary Commission on Security and Defence Issues, said to Trend news agency on 8 November.
The round table dedicated to the issue to improve the Election Code of Azerbaijan started in Baku on 7 November. The organizers of the round table were the Council of Europe Venice Commission and International Found on Election System (IFES). The representatives of the Azerbaijani Government, ruling and opposition parties, as well as representatives from the OSCE, Council of Europe and IFES attended at the conference.
The relevant issue of the discussions was changes into the composition of election commissions.
The Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), Democratic Party, Liberal Party and Musavat Party do not attend at discussions demonstrating protest against the organizer of the discussions the International Foundation of Election System (IFES). The four parties state that only they must attend at the discussions on behalf of the Azerbaijani opposition.
The refusal by the four opposition parties to take part at the discussions did not affect on the process, Novruzov said. Representatives of all Azerbaijani opposition parties, excluding the four parties, took part at the discussions. The discussion would play an important role in formation of the Azerbaijani election legislation, Novruzov added.
Arif Hajili, the head of the Central Executive Administration of Musavat, who boycotts the discussions, said the party did not trust IFES. "This organization holds the policy which coincides with the policy of the Authorities," he said. The goal of the discussions to draw attention from the relevant issues concerning formation of election commissions on parity basis. Therefore, we refused to take part at the discussions, Hajili said.