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Sergey Kuznetsov: â€œWe had offered to reconsider the procedure of formation of election commissions in Azerbaijanâ€

27 May 2008 14:52 (UTC +04:00)

APAâ€™s Europe bureau reports that secretary general of the commission Gianni Buquicchio made a report about one-year activity of the Venice Commission and answered the questions of the participants. One-year report was published and distributed among the participants. Officer of the commissionâ€™s elections and referendums department Sergey Kuznetsov told APA that final decision would be made in connection with the annexes and amendments to Azerbaijanâ€™s Electoral Code at the plenary sitting in Venice on June 13-14.
â€œIt would be early to say something now. We should wait how the reading of the bill will pass in the parliament. But we are disappointed that the bill presented by the Azerbaijani government does not cover thorough study of the formation of election commissions. We had offered to reconsider the procedure of formation of election commissions, so that the commissions could meet the interests of all the involved sides. Of course, this recommendation is still valid. We did not show a concrete scheme concerning the formation of the commissions, we just expressed our hope that the recommendations would be taken into consideration maximally in the annexes and amendments to the Electoral Code,â€ he said.
Sergey Kuznetsov said that the bill should be adopted much before the elections, so that the participants of the process can get acquainted with the document.
â€œI think this is a very logical approach. Unfortunately, sometimes countries amend the legislation at the time when the involved forces face difficulties in acquainting with the changes,â€ he said.
Sergey Kuznetsov also said that they would visit Azerbaijan after July session of the Venice Commission.