Municipal elections will be held in Azerbaijan on December 17, 2004. The decision on holding the elections has been adopted at a recent meeting of the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan (CEC). 21,650 members to 2,735 municipalities will be elected during the polls. At present, there are a total of 4,462,000 electorates in Azerbaijan. (23 August 2004)
Groundwork for elections
The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan has approved planned schedule of major activities for preparation and holding of the municipal elections on 17 December 2004.
Further to this plan, the process of nomination of candidates to municipalities is beginning on date of official publication of CEC decision on timing of the elections, i.e. 18 August.
Applications for monitoring of the municipal elections in the territory ofAzerbaijan must be submitted no later than 10 days before the elections. Applications for monitoring in territory of election district must be submitted to district electoral commission no later than 5 days before the elections.
Registration documents of candidates to municipalities must be submitted no earlier than 105 and no later than 70 days before the elections.
After reception of subscription lists and other documents, district electoral commissions must take decisions on registration or non-registration of candidates within 10 days.
Electoral roll must be completed no later than 65 days before the elections.
Electoral agitation is beginning 60 days ahead and completing 24 hours prior to the day of voting.
District electoral commissions must publish lists of registered candidates55 days before voting.
Voting process will continue from 8 am until 7 pm on day of voting. Divisional election commissions must submit protocols on voting results to district electoral commissions within 24 hours after completion of voting.
District election commissions must publish voting results in all districts within 2 days after completion of voting.
CEC must publish preliminary election results no later than 5 days after voting day and announce election results within 30 days. Protocols of district election commissions will be published within 45 days.
CEC intends to computerize polling stations
The CEC intends to computerize polling stations for the purposes of immediate transmission of voting results and final protocols to district polling stations and keeping the community updated.
The CEC hopes to enlist assistance of international organizations in this matter. Mazahir Panahov, chairman of CEC, said at a sitting yesterday that computerization demanded for 5 thousand computers. He said that foreign Embassies and international organizations could be very helpful. According to Panahov, computerization of polling stations will allow to promptly load voting results into Internet, thus increasing the transparency of elections.
According to Panahov, transparent ballot-boxes provided to Azerbaijan for last presidential elections, are insufficient for municipal ones. Voting papers will be larger at the municipal electons due to higher number of candidates. Voting papers will not fit into exiting boxes. “The number of candidates to municipal authorities will exceed 100 persons in some places”, explained Panahov.–
