Azerbaijan, Baku, 31 July/ Trend , corr E. Babayev/ A meeting of 7 to 8 opposition parties of Azerbaijan was held in the headquarters of the oppositional Musavat party of Azerbaijan. "The parties who were once the members of Our Azerbaijan bloc attended the meeting and discussed the situation prior to the elections," Arif Hajili, head of Central Executive Body of the party said to Trend .
Our Azerbaijan bloc was founded in 2003 during presidential elections to support Isa Gambar, the then presidential candidate and chairman of Musavat. The bloc united more than 30 organizations. Later Musavat party quitted the bloc. At present, the bloc unites 8 parties. Bloc plans to support Eldar Namazov, For Azerbaijan public forum in the upcoming elections.
According to Hajili, the parties did not clarify any concrete positions whether Musavat will take part in the elections. "During the discussions the head of Musavat party Isa Gambar did not clarify his position with this regard. The Majlis (Assembly) of the party will adopt a final decision on this issue on 2 August," Hajili said and did not comment whether the meeting aimed at setting up a bloc around Isa Gambar prior to the elections. "Ahrar, Khalg, Jumhuriyyet Khalg and other parties attended the meeting and their chief aim was to discuss pre-election situation," Hajili added.
Chairman of oppositional Ahrar party Vagif Hajibayli said that the issues regarding whether to take part in the elections were discussed during the meeting. "At present, nor Musavat, nor its allies have concrete position whether to take part in the elections," said Hajibayli and added that he opposes boycotting elections. He said that the establishment of bloc around Isa Gambar was not discussed during the meeting.
The presidential elections in Azerbaijan will be held on 15 October 2008.
The oppositional party Musavat was founded in 1992. Isa Gambar, the present Chairman of the Party was the Ex-Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli Majlis) in 1992 to1993 and was nominated for the 2003 presidential elections. The Party is represented by five MPs in the parliament.
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