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IFES director on Azerbaijan: We were looking forward to the active participation of the party leaders issuing statement at the roundtable

31 October 2007 13:48 (UTC +04:00)

Taking a stance on the statement of four party leaders distrusting IFES, Daniel Blessington said the roundtable is jointly organized by the COE and IFES with the full cooperation of the Venice Commission and the OSCE.
â€œIt is not IFES acting alone. We are working closely with the European organizations with which we have worked for many years on election-related matters in Azerbaijan,â€ he said.
â€œThe event on November 9th will be moderated by Lord Russell-Johnston, former Chairman and Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The Venice Commission is sending two experts. Political parties and NGOs will be given an opportunity to present their proposals. We expect a lively discussion. Incidentally, IFES has actually translated the proposed changes to the existing election code into English submitted by political parties and NGOs so that they could be easily reviewed by the Council of Europe, Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR. We are working hard to facilitate the event,â€ he said.
Mr. Blessington said that IFES prides itself on being non-partisan, professional and inclusive.
â€œOur job is to help improve legal frameworks and processes for elections,â€ Mr. Blessington said.

Chief of international affairs department of Central Election Commission (CEC) Rovzat Gasimov also underlined that it is not only IFES that organizes the roundtable between the authorities and opposition on amending the Electoral Code.
â€œThe roundtable is jointly organized by the Council of Europeâ€™s Venice Commission and IFES,â€ he said.
He said that debates on changing the Electoral Code will be held from November 7 till 9.
Receiving and investigating complaints will be debated on November 7-8. Venice Commission and Central Election Commission will organize these debates. Composition of election commission will be debated on November 9. This is organized by Venice Commission and IFES.
Rovzat Gasimov said the place, where the roundtable will be held and composition of the parties that will participate in the debates have not been determined yet.
â€œThese parties will be determined by joint reference of Venice Commission, IFES and Central Election Commission,â€ he said. /APA/