Irregularities not too serious

Head of President's office socio-political department Ali Hasanov has said he fully agrees with the election feedback by international observers, who have described the repeat election as more democratic than the November 5 one and the violations observed as not serious enough to tell on final returns.

Mr. Hasanov regarded the statement by the COE and OSCE delegations as a positive feedback to the democratic development in Azerbaijan in view of the country's anticipated acceptance to the COE.

He said election results in the Sumgayit constituency #38, found as particularly flawed by international observers, would not be voided. Irregularities registered only in one polling station of the constituency will not affect the election outcome, he said.

Mr. Hasanov voiced his discontent with the utterance by PA CE representatives regarding certain political prisoners.

"We will carry on our discussions and hold a dialogue on the criminal cases of these people with the COE monitoring group", he said.*