Azerbaijan, Baku, 3 June / Trend corr. I.Alizade / The draft on amendments and supplements into the Election Code will complicate the registration process of candidates for presidential post, Ali Karimli, Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) and Co-founder of the Azadlig bloc, told Trend .
"Unfortunately, the expected amendments were not made into the Election Code by the public and world community," Karimli said.
The draft on amendments and supplements into the Election Code of Azerbaijan was passed by the Parliament on 2 June.
Under the current draft, the term of election campaign has been decreased from 120 days to 75 days, number of electorate signatures, which the candidates have to present to the Central Election Commission for registration, has been reduced from 45,000 to 40,000, prohibition has been put on paid and free agitation on TV, radio and newspaper- financed by the government, the election fund of presidential candidates has been increased from AZN 1mln to AZN 10mln and election centres in military units have been cancelled.
Some 100 MPs voted for, three against and one restrained from voting regarding the amendments and supplements into the Election Code.
The draft on amendments and supplements into the Election Code was introduced into the Election Code as a result of the joint discussions between the Azerbaijani government and Council of Europe Venice Commission.
"The draft into Code made the current legislation more undemocratic," Karimli said.
Chairman of PFPA stated that the draft into Code should have touched upon the change into the framework of election commissions, claim consideration rules, as well as equal conditions to hold election agitation for all, media usage for election campaign and provision for servicemen to vote.
"In past, if the collected signatures collected by candidates were considered fake then the candidates could register themselves at the expense of deposits. As per the new draft, candidates are deprived of this possibility," Karimli said.
Karimli said that he negatively assesses the prohibition to hold election agitation on the state-run TVs, as well as no changes have been made into the framework of election commissions. "One of the most negative points of the current draft is the prohibition to place agitation materials in the streets and squares," Karimli said.
Eldar Ibrahimov, a member of the Political Council of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) and Chairman of the standing Parliamentary Commission on Agrarian Issues, stated that the draft into the Election Code would provide conditions to implement free and democratic elections. "The recent draft on amendments and supplements into the Election Code demonstrated that the government is interested to hold free and democratic presidential elections," Ibrahimov said.
Ibrahimov considers that Ali Karimli and other opposition leaders know that they will lose the presidential elections and that is why they are slandering the government'. "If Ali Karimli and other opposition parties have enough power then they must participate in the elections. The whole world knows that the President Ilham Aliyev has gained the trust of the population with his affairs and the upcoming presidential elections will be a concreter proof of it," Ibrahimov stated.
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