Azerbaijan, Baku, 1 July / corr. Trend E. Babayeva/ The ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) has published the results of the internet-based poll on the last supplements and changes made to the Election Code by the Azerbaijani parliament. Some 85% of the respondents are neutral of the last supplements and changes to the Election Code, the press service of NAP said to Trend .
The parliament of Azerbaijan passed the Bill on Supplements and Changes to the Election Code on 2 June. According to the Bill, the presidential candidates are prohibited to conduct election campaign in state-owned TV channels, radios and newspapers with the term of the election campaign being shortened from four months up to 75 days. Furthermore, the number of signatures require for the registration of the presidential candidates was decreased from 45,000 to 40,000. The oppositional parties, who consider the changes undemocratic, think to boycott elections.
Some 60% of the respondents accept the last changes to the Election Code positively, 13% - normal, 12%- as necessary. Some 15% of the respondents accepted the changes to the Election Code negatively. "As we can see, 85%, that is majority of the respondents assess the changes as normal and they described it as a step to improve election legislation. This once again shows that the democracy, pluralism and freedom of expression are deepening. The results of the opinion poll once again showed that the citizens are free in expressing their political views and the upcoming presidential elections will be next contribution to enriching culture of democratic elections in Azerbaijan. One can make a conclusion that the position of the majority of the society (85%) coincides with that of the Azerbaijani government as in case of other principal issues.
This factor clarifies the attitude of the society to the ruling party candidate for the presidential elections. Because every opinion poll also shows the attitude to the current political course. It means that the results of the opinion show the unanimous support of the society to the reformative policy of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev carried out in the sphere of legislation," NAP report on the opinion poll said.
NAP was established by the chairman of the Supreme Majlis of Nakhchivan Heydar Aliyev in 1992. The current President Ilham Aliyev is the chairman of the Party which has been ruling for already 15 years.
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