New draft triggers heated discussions

Milli Maclis (parliament) discussed the new draft Electoral Code on March 11. MP Alimammad Nuriyev described judge's involvement in electoral commissions as contravening the Constitution of Azerbaijan, urging continuation of serious dialogue on this question. Other opposition MPs reproached the power because of limited time for discussing such an important document. Meanwhile, MP Eldar Ibrahimov protested at the allocation of only six seats in the Central Electoral Commission for the New Azerbaijan Party that is represented by 76 deputies in parliament, considering it as injustice.

Discussion of the draft Electoral Code will resume at the next meeting of Milli Maclis.

Parliament started to discuss the Electoral Code on Friday. Joined by opposition parties the discussion was also attended by representatives of international organizations.

Ali Huseynov, deputy chairman of the standing parliamentary commission on legal policy and state building, presented the new draft code, consisting of 246 articles in 45 chapters. According to him, the draft is very compact and systematic and had been reviewed by international organizations. The code includes methods of preventing falsifications.