Azerbaijan's local elections on 23 December will be transparent and fair, Ali Hasanov, head of the public policy department at the presidential administration, has said.
“The election process in Azerbaijan is improving each time and the upcoming municipal elections will be an example,” Hasanov told an information session on the local elections on Monday.
He said that Azerbaijan today has no problems holding democratic elections and the climate is right for this.
"Any party or individual can take part in the elections. Therefore, the upcoming municipal elections in Azerbaijan will be held democratically and transparently, justly and in line with international standards. The government is interested in this,” he said.
Hasanov also said that the public does not pay enough attention to the municipal elections and stressed the role of municipalities in public life.
The OSCE's office in Baku has begun information sessions on Mondays in order to avert interference in the election process ahead of the municipal elections in Azerbaijan.
A mission of the Council of Europe's Congress of Regional and Local Authorities will observe the local elections on 23 December, Veronika Kotek, the special representative in Azerbaijan of the Council of Europe's secretary general, told journalists.
She said that a small, short-term mission would arrive in Azerbaijan few days before the elections and observe the voting process. The diplomat said the mission had not been formed yet.
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