REPORT OF THE CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION
OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN
2007 January, 2008
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www.cec.gov.az
www.infocenter.gov.az
The sovereign Republic of Azerbaijan that is confidently moving towards the construction of democratic society has been making great achievements in public and political, economy, social and cultural spheres. Developments in the country are reflected on the improvement of the election system as well. A number of events are being conducted in the country for comprehensive development and improvement of the election system which is the main indication of democracy. Monitoring for studying working conditions and capacity of constituency election commissions (ConEC) that permanently function in the country by the Central Election Commission, in conformity with the Election Code, is one of the processes mentioned above. These processes started end of 2006 and about two months period monitoring groups of the Central Election Commission have inspected activities of 125 constituency election commissions. All activity related issues, started from clerical work to current working conditions within the buildings of election commissions have been checked. After the Central Election Commission analyzed results of the monitoring, it took the initiative to the leadership of the country on improvement of working conditions and strengthening the capacity of the election commissions. The Central Election Commission’s initiative was positively accepted and wit the instructions of the President of the country working conditions of 125 constituency election commissions have been improved, so, new administrative buildings that meet high standards have been constructed for about 100 constituency commissions within short period of time, and buildings of other commissions have been reconstructed or repaired. All constituency election commissions have been provided with necessary office equipment including new computers
Courses for the election commission members, as well as voter education activities take an important part in the election process. Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Approval of the National Plan for Protection of Human Rights in the Republic of Azerbaijan” from December 28 2006 recommended the Central Election Commission to conduct specialized trainings for the lower election commissions on election rights and educate them on administration of elections. With this Decree the President of the country demonstrated his political will towards conduct of free and fair elections, as well as protection of human rights and freedoms in the election process. In order to implement the recommendations mentioned in the Decree, the Central Election Commission has developed an extensive action plan that includes legal knowledge and professional development oriented capacity building of lower election commissions, for these purposes to conduct specialized courses on election rights for election commissions’ members, as well as voter education issues. According to the plan it was intended to cover more than around 30,000 election officials. As it was considered by the first state of the project, on October and November 2007 one week educational courses were held for chairpersons of the constituency election commissions in Baku, jointly organized by the Central Election Commission and Academy of Public Administration at the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Chairpersons of the constituency election commissions had interesting lectures by officials of the Milli Majlis, President’s Executive Apparat, Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, General Prosecutor’s, and Central Election Commission, as well as experts of the Academy of Public Administration and Baku State University. A number of questions were discussed during the practical exercises. The curriculum included topics like human rights, the Election Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, international election standards, role of political parties in elections, election experience of other countries, transparency in elections, handling complaints and appeals, election campaign etc. They also looked through the past elections and lessons learned. The participants addressed questions to the speakers and obtained needed information. Meeting with heads of Baku Offices of OSCE and IFES were organized for ConEC chairs where the sides exchanged ideas.
The second phase of the project happened in 2007 December. This stage was focused on education of ConEC members and chairpersons of precinct election commissions (PEC). Number of attendees varied between 60 and 80 during the one-month course period which allowed the lower election commission representatives to be more active during the sessions and to address the questions that were of their interest. Implementation of the third stage of the project which was focused on professional development of the precinct election commission members and which lasted about one month started beginning of February 2008. Curriculum for second ad third stages included topics like the Election Code, participation of political parties in elections, transparency in election process, preparation and conduct of elections, tabulation of election results, responsibilities of the election commissions, legislative system for accountability of violating election rights etc. Generally, purpose of this education process was to play a role of extensive source of information about electoral processes for more than thirty thousand election officials.
There is a regular media coverage aimed to voter education. It is planned to intensify this process and to involve all media in the process once the election day is officially announced.
Updating the voter lists is one of the important actions of the electoral process. According to the Election Code, the voter lists are updated every year from January till end of May. Since 2005 the nationwide voter lists are posted on CEC’s website. Each voter can directly or with the help of search system check his/her information (name, last name, father’s name, year of birth, polling station where to vote and number of the constituency). Besides that, the voter can get information on the website on address of the polling station where s/he will vote, map of the mentioned territory in cities, necessary information on buses which go to that direction. Voters can apply to the relevant constituency election commissions to check their names on the voter lists.
The Central Election Commission in conformity with the election legislation, started to update nationwide voter lists, as it does annually, beginning of January 2008 and the process is going on at the moment. Updating process is not limited to the election year or a certain period of time. Generally, it is ongoing process in cooperation with relevant bodes (local Registration and Identification Document department, state registration of civil acts department etc.) on daily basis. Relevant information on voters is rapidly sent to ConECs and it is included in the voter lists. Based on information obtained, the CEC analyses increase of voters and makes necessary changes in conformity with the Election Code in location of constituencies and precincts. Because refugees and IDPs located within the country are dispersed in all regions of the republic, it makes administration of their voting difficult. An intensive work is needed in this field. According to the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan, temporary camps that refugees and IDPs lived have been abolished and they have been moved to newly constructed temporary settlements. Due to this migration, necessary changes have been made in location of their constituencies and precincts.
Taking into account that 2008 is a Presidential Election year, the CEC is implementing some projects regarding the voter lists. Introduction of a special three-digit hotline for voters is one of those projects. Voters who are interested in updating their data and in informing about it or being informed can use this hotline. Electronic hotline on CEC’s website is also helpful for those voters who have abovementioned intentions. Various videos “Check your name on voter list” developed by the CEC for encouraging voters to participate in updating of voter list were aired on relevant TVs in different stages.
Another activity for improvement of electoral process is related to the Election Code. The government of Azerbaijan is cooperating with Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and OSCE ODIHR to improve the Election Code. In November 2007 the Central Election Commission together with CoE and IFES conducted a roundtable discussion on “Possible Changes to the Election Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan regarding Handling Complaints and Appeals.” Representatives of relevant government bodies, political parties and local NGOs were invited to the event. Discussions around the Election Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan are being held currently.
