Excerpt from report in Azerbaijani newspaper 'Azadlyg' on 11th December by
Murshud Mahmudov entitled "Who has more candidates?"

Subhead: It is not so important. The main issue is how the voting will be
held and how votes will be counted

[Passage omitted: Violations took place during the municipal elections just
as in the parliamentary and presidential elections. Therefore, some parties
have decided to boycott the election. But the leading opposition parties
are running in the elections.]

The Musavat Party planned to fight for 14,000 seats [in municipalities], but
only 2,556 of the party's candidates have been registered. A coordinator
from the party's electoral headquarters, Nushavan Mukhtarly, said that the
candidatures of 400 people who are not members of the party but are close
to it, had also been registered. According to Mukhtarly, the party
membership of these people will be considered after the elections.
The PFAP [People's Front of Azerbaijan Party] wished to be represented in
the elections by 12,000 people but only 2,461 of the party's candidates
have been registered.

Though the PNIA [Party for National Independence of Azerbaijan] joined the
parties which are boycotting the elections, many members of the party put
forward their candidatures independently.
The Compatriot Party put forward 800 nominees but only 200 have been
registered. Nevertheless, the party intends to continue the struggle to the
very end.

Only 34 out of 60 candidates put forward by the Liberal Democratic Party
have been registered. And the majority of them are not members of the
party. Thirty-one out of 34 registered candidates are not members of the
party.

Unlike the opposition parties, members of the [ruling] New Azerbaijan Party
[NAP] did not face any obstacles in the electoral process. Trying to save
its strongholds from destruction, the party allocated the majority of seats
to its members. The party planned to fight for seats in the municipalities
with 13,500 members. A total of 12,600 members of the NAP have been
registered as candidates.

The Motherland Party, which is regarded as a progovernment one, put forward
only 1,700 candidates. And only 540 of them have been registered. The
party's press service says that 700 more members of the party are
participating in the elections as independent candidates.

Source: 'Azadlyg', Baku, in Azeri 11 Dec 99 p3
BBC Mon TCU 111299/** sh/la