By taking into consideration that the following Municipal Elections is to be conducted in 2009 due to the termination of the term of authority of the municipalities in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Central Election Commission has further intensified the preparation process since August.

For the preparation and conduct of this election process which is to be resulted in electing 15682 members to 1718 municipalities existing within the territory of the republic, Central Election Commission works on different projects, takes necessary steps with the aim of the conduct of elections under free and fair conditions.

At the session held by the Central Election Commission on 7 October 2009, decision was adopted on the conduct of Municipal Elections on 23 December 2009, thus it became the start of election race.

During September-October, borders of constituencies and increase dynamics of the voters’ number were considered once more, impact of the residential apartments recently given to employment and such factors to the borders of the constituencies was analyzed. Furthermore, by decision of the Central Election Commission, dated on 30 October 2009, appropriate steps were taken in relation with making amendments in the borders of the constituencies.

Meanwhile, the Central Election Commission collected specified information on officially established municipalities, received by the local executive authorities and Constituency Election Commissions (Con.ECs) concerning the amendments rooted from the execution of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On the establishment of new municipalities by merging municipalities in the Republic of Azerbaijan”, dated on 29 May 2009 and Law “On the establishment of new municipalities by merging the municipalities in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic”, dated on 19 June 2009.

At the same time, information was collected on the municipalities existing within the territory of each constituency, the number of the members to be elected to the municipalities according to the number of the population, dislocations of the election precincts, the number of voters on election precincts and compositions of Precinct Election Commissions (PECs). Relevant steps were taken by analyzing the achieved information.

At the result of scrutiny, it became clear that there is not any voting precinct in 8 municipalities existing within the territory of the republic and 12 precincts were established within the municipalities pursuant to Article 3 of Election Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the formation of PECs was arranged.

Education has always been one of the fields of great importance to the Central Election Commission. Education of voters and commission members is realized via different projects. Order of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On the approval of National Activity Plan on the protection of human rights in the Republic of Azerbaijan” has already become a guiding document for the Central Election Commission in the preparation and conduct of many projects in the field of education. The professional courses on election right considered for the members of the Con.ECs and PECs has also turned one of the important projects of the Central Election Commission. Considering that this year is election year, in August, a project consisting of 2 stages was prepared for the education of the members of the Con.ECs and PECs. During the first phase, professional courses on election right were conducted for the chairpersons of the Con.ECs. These courses were held in Baku on 7-12 September. During the courses, apart from the representatives of the Central Election Commission, responsible persons of many higher state agencies – Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Milli Majlis, Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Ministry of Interior Affairs, General Prosecutor’s Office and Ministry of Justice made speech before the participants and provided them with appropriate recommendations on their activities. At the seminars, except lectures, practical issues of great interest to the chairpersons of the Con.ECs were also discussed and enlightened.  In the framework of training program, head of OSCE Baku office and country director of International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) also met with the participants. At the courses, chairpersons of all Con.ECs on 125 constituencies took part and got relevant certificates.

In the second phase of education project, the above-mentioned courses were conducted for the members of the Con.ECs and PECs on the constituencies. On 23-25 September, at these courses conducted in the regions, delegates of local executive authorities, prosecutor’s office and court bodies along with the representatives of the Central Election Commission also made speech on the topics implied by the training program approved by the commission and responded to the questions given at the seminar.

The cooperation with international and foreign organizations which is one of the spheres always at the focus of attention of the Central Election Commission has been revived in these periods. In September-October, more than 10 meetings in various levels were held with the responsible representatives of international (foreign) organizations interested in the forthcoming elections and the businesslike cooperation was continued on daily bases related with the co-implemented projects. It is taken into consideration to realize many joint projects during elections.

One of the effective means to ensure transparency in election process is to convey the information to the publicity via mass media. In the aim of informing the country population, the Central Election Commission closely collaborates with mass media. Chairman of the Central Election Commission conducted 6 press conferences for the representatives of local and international mass media in September-October, informed media representatives on elections and replied to their questions. Furthermore, representatives of the Central Election Commission gave interviews 24 times for different TV channels in these months and more than 35 articles, comments on the commission activity were published. Nearly 30 press releases, many public data and scenarios by the Central Election Commission were disseminated by mass media. Professional courses on election right for the lower election commissions were enlightened by the country press and delivered to the publicity.

Furthermore, mass media representatives are regularly invited to the sessions conducted by the Central Election Commission and they enlighten the session procedure.

As a compound part of education program, 7 programs, each for 22 minutes were introduced in the Public TV during September-October. In the course of these programs, the representatives of the Central Election Commission made speech on different topics which embody the period since the start of elections till the stage of campaign. Furthermore, 3 articles on the topics of great interest to the voters and members of lower election commissions were issued in “Azerbaijan” newspaper by the representatives of the Commission in these months.

On October 8, immediately after the official publication of the decision by the Central Election Commission on the appointment of elections, the Commission reworked and approved many Instructions, rules, comments and document samples necessary for the nomination and registration of the candidates to municipality membership and Con.ECs were provided with these documents.

During elections one of the important issues is the consideration of the citizens’ appeals concerning elections and adoption of relevant decisions. Taking this into consideration, the Central Election Commission precisely followed the process of establishing expert groups consisting of 3 persons under the Con.ECs in the aim of investigating citizens’ complaints and appeals pursuant to Article 112-1.1 of Election Code and provided relevant recommendations.

In October, voters’ lists were published and submitted to the Con.ECs for specification and in their turn, they hang these lists in the polling stations for the voters to check and offer necessary amendments. Voters may check their data in the web site of the Central Election Commission as usual. In this case, voters may call hot line # 115 in relation with the elimination of the shortcomings found out in their information or may appeal to the Central Election Commission by completing the relevant online application form. This information is considered once more and necessary specifications are made. In their turn, the Con.ECs transmit the information received by the relevant bodies on the voters’ displacement to the Central Election Commission and take relevant steps concerning this.

Election related hot line # 115 which has been functioning since 2008 has already become the confident source of information for the parties participating in elections. More than 100 appeals entered this automated line during September-October, so the majority of them concern legal affairs.

The Central Election Commission investigates the equipment of the Con.ECs related with the preparation of the forthcoming Municipal Elections and takes steps forward the removal of shortcomings. The needs concerning ballot boxes for the organization of voting, ultraviolet lamps for checking ink on voters’ fingers and other required equipment are investigated and necessary activities are taken.

In September and October, 5 sessions were conducted by the Central Election Commission and at these sessions, 24 decisions were adopted. These decisions, in essence, embody the appointment of the following Municipal Elections, approval of Calendar Plan for the basic activities and measures on the preparation and conduct of elections, establishment of Expert Group under the Central Election Commission in the aim of investigating the complaints of actions (inactions) violating citizens’ suffrage, registration of the authorized representatives of political parties, approval of many legal-normative documents and other current affairs.

After the declaration of Municipal Elections, the citizens intending to participate as candidates in the forthcoming elections applied to the Con.ECs and after submitting necessary documents, they were provided with signature sheets. At the present, approval and registration of the candidates continue. Till October 31, the number of the persons whose candidacy have been approved reached 26769 and the number of the registered by collecting signatures reached 3456. 15 political parties with their candidates joined Municipal Elections. For simple and operative implementation of the process of receiving the information on the candidates from the constituencies, the Central Election Commission provided the Con.ECs with necessary computer programs. The collected information on the candidate registration through this program is daily transmitted to the Central Election Commission via the current election network of the State Automated Information System and is delivered to the publicity by locating on web site of the Commission.

In the aim of educating the computer specialists acting in the Con.ECs on the above-mentioned software and State Automated Information System, trainings were conducted by the Central Election Commission since October 7 till 22.

Needed steps were taken in providing the Con.ECs with legal-methodical means. So, instructions, rules and comments adopted by the Central Election Commission were published like a booklet in 6 volumes and distributed to the members of Con.ECs, PECs. At the present, guide books are being prepared for the members of lower election commissions, observers, agents of candidates and other participants of election process in the aim of education.

Ensuring transparency during the preparation and conduct of Municipal Elections to be conducted on 23 December 2009, is one of the important issues. The citizens intending to observe election process applied to the relevant commissions and they were provided with badges after being registered as observers.

All documents and information on elections are located on web site of the Central Election Commission. On web page, except election documents, the information on the composition of the Central Election Commission, its activity, structure of the Commission Secretariat, Election Code, monthly reports, adopted decisions, instructions, rules and comments, information on previous elections, compositions and addresses of Con.ECs, PECs (information on their scheme maps in cities and public transportation means moving in this route), territory of the constituencies (borders of the constituencies), many statistic indicators, voters’ lists, daily updated information on candidates related with the forthcoming Municipal Elections, lists of the municipalities, the number of the members to be elected to them, election precincts to vote for each municipality, their addresses, information for press and many other materials were located. The above-mentioned information is regularly updated and relevant additions are made.

By using all these means talked about, the Central Election Commission attempted to enlighten the questions interesting the country publicity and took steps in educating voters on elections.

Reports of the Central Election Commission in Azerbaijan and English are located on web page of the Commission and are addressed to local and international (foreign) organizations via e-mail every month.