Domestic

Home page

Domestic

Mazahir Panahov: â€œI do not think that reduction of the election term will reduce someoneâ€™s fameâ€

10 June 2008 15:01 (UTC +04:00)

He said it had been expected that technical amendments would be made to the law. But later, some amendments arousing interest were also made to the law.
â€œActually, reduction of election period was not shown in the draft law submitted to the parliament by the president. The issue was raised by some parties in the parliament. No matter whether the term has been reduced or is four months. But in most countries elections are held within two months. I do not think that reduction of the term will reduce someoneâ€™s fame, or create problems in terms of organizing the elections. I assure you that there is no problem in connection with the organization of the elections. One can not say that there will be problems in informing the public of the political platform, because it may cast shadow on the elections held all over the world and it will mean that these elections are antidemocratic,â€ he said.
As regards the abolition of the deposit, Mazahir Panahov said that rule existed only in Azerbaijan.
â€œThere is no such a rule in the countries that I got interested in. If someone considers himself popular enough and ready to become president, it will not be difficult for him to collect 40,000 signatures. This issue can not be regarded as violation of rights,â€ he said.
As to the Venice Commission expert Sergey Kuznetsovâ€™s statements that annexes and amendments to the Electoral Code will be reconsidered, Mazahir Panahov said the expert did not say so.
â€œDirector of CEC international affairs department contacted Sergey Kuznetsov. He said that he was unaware of the issue, no one phoned him and he did not say so,â€ he said.