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The Venice Commission is ready to work over the amendments to the Election Code of Azerbaijan, if it receives the relevant request from the official Baku, Representative of the Council of Europe (CE) Venice Commission, Sergei Kuznetsov told Trend News in a telephone conversation from Strasbourg.
“If we receive an official request from the Government of Azerbaijan, we are ready to work over it,” Kuznetsov said. “According to our regulations, either the authorities of a country or statutory bodies of the Council of Europe – Parliamentary Assembly or the Committee of Ministers apply to us.”
Kuznetsov said the commission had not yet received any request from Azerbaijan to continue the work over the Election Code. In the run-up to the municipal elections in Azerbaijan, a number of opposition parties support amending the existing code. Azerbaijan will hold the municipal elections in the second half of December.
The Election Code was amended in early June 2008 after joint discussions between the government and Council of Europe Venice Commission. The amendments did not include forming election commissions on a parity basis as the opposition hoped. Several Azerbaijani opposition parties refused to partake in the elections on Oct. 15 as a protest against the Election Code.
The Azerbaijani Government will initiate discussions with the Venice Commission in order to again make changes and amendments to the Election Code, earlier Chairman of the Parliamentary Administration, Safa Mirzayev told Trend News. There is a need to improve the Code in connection with the municipal elections, in particular with the nomination of candidates and campaign period, the organization of voting in municipal elections.
