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Terry Davis: I hope Azerbaijan will have further improvements at presidential elections next time â€“ EXCLUSIVE

Terry Davis: I hope Azerbaijan will have further improvements at presidential elections next time â€“ <font color=#FF0000>EXCLUSIVE </font>

08 October 2007 12:29 (UTC +04:00)

- How do you value ongoing processes in Azerbaijan?
- Iâ€™m following the democratic process in all the member countries including Azerbaijan. Clearly, there is an improvement. There have been some criticism, especially in the field of freedom of expression, interference with media. But I would say that there is a significant progress in last years.
- What is your attitude towards journalistsâ€™ arrest in Azerbaijan?
- Obviously I have discussions with the authorities of Azerbaijan about such issues. But we must not assume that because some of the journalists have been arrested, they are innocent. We have to find out why they were arrested.
- How do you appreciate the discussions between Azerbaijani government and Venice Commission?
- We have very good discussions. I have very good personal relationship with president Aliyev whom I know for many years. Obviously we discuss issues of human rights and democracy in Azerbaijan.
- How can the Council of Europe help Azerbaijan in holding just, democratic and transparent presidential elections?
- Iâ€™m absolutely certain that the authorities of Azerbaijan can arrange the elections to be better than in the past. Whether elections will be better is another issue. But I think there was some improvement last time, and I hope there will be further improvements next time. Saying â€œimprovementsâ€ I mean that I expect and I want elections to be more democratic to enable people of Azerbaijan to decide who will be their representatives in parliament.
- How necessary is the acceptance of amendments to Azerbaijanâ€™s Electoral Code? Can Azerbaijan face sanctions of the Council of Europe, if it does not accept these amendments?
- We can help Azerbaijan to improve Electoral code. We have a body calling Venice Commission who do exactly that. We do not operate on a basis of punishing people if they do not accept our advice. But Iâ€™m sure that the authorities of Azerbaijan will consider seriously any suggestion we make.
During previous elections fingers would be inked in order to avoid people voting twice. There was very much interest in the honest voting in Azerbaijan. Some people said that president Aliyev would not agree with this advice because it was humiliating and undignified for people to have their fingers inked. But I explained to president Aliyev that if I was an Azeri I would want my finger be inked and the finger of everybody else be inked to make sure that nothing is cheated and that hat everybody can vote only once. President Aliyev accepted this argument to prevent fraud.
I expect there will be other things which you can consult us about in preparation of next elections. We will give an independent advice based on expertise and experience.
- How justified is the decision on rejecting the list of Azerbaijani candidates for European Court of Human Rights?
- I do not have any comment because I did not interview the candidates. There is a sub-committee of the Parliamentary Assembly that interview all the candidates from all the countries. In case of Azerbaijan they said that the nominated candidates of this group were not sufficiently well qualified to make the reason of the choice, and therefore they have asked the government of Azerbaijan to undergo this process again to form a new list. I can not comment whether in was justified or not. /APA/