Excerpt from report by Azerbaijani newspaper 'Azadlyg' entitled "Ramiz Mehdiyev accused the OSCE of being nonprofessional"

[Subhead] Expanded session, held on 2nd October and chaired by President Heydar Aliyev, also discussed issues relating to the parliamentary elections

Head of the Presidential Executive Staff Ramiz Mehdiyev spoke in detail on the above issue in his speech. Ramiz Mehdiyev focused on steps taken by official Baku to explain Azerbaijan's stance on the forthcoming parliamentary elections to Western diplomats and experts. At the same time, Ramiz Mehdiyev expressed dissatisfaction with the position of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights [ODIHR]. The ODIHR criticized the Azerbaijani leadership and the law "On elections to the Milli Majlis" in its report. The head of the Executive Staff described the report as "nonprofessional". At the same time, Mehdiyev said that this document did not reflect the opinion of the ODIHR head and the document was not signed by the body's chief, Gerard Stoudman. Mehdiyev also said that the head of the OSCE observers mission, Nikolay Vulchanov, was in Baku for some days. Another 18 OSCE observers will arrive in Azerbaijan on 6th October. "The OSCE will have 150 observers in the country for the elections on 5th November," Mehdiyev said. He also added that the US National Democratic Institute intended to send about 40-50 observers. Speaking about preparation for the elections, Ramiz Mehdiyev said that an information centre under the Central Electoral Commission has been set up and all territorial electoral commissions have been computerized. Some 20 analytical centres have been founded to observe the election process. Mehdiyev believes that lists of over 4m voters have been compiled and this data has been stored on computer.

[Passage omitted: number of candidates registered by Central Electoral Commission]

Source: 'Azadlyg', Baku, in Azeri 4 Oct 00 p 8

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Posted October 11, 2000 © Eurasianet
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