A Council of Europe (CE) mission including 30 people will observe the upcoming presidential elections in Azerbaijan, CE Vice-President and the head of Azerbaijan’s delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov said to journalists in Baku on 13 August.
According to the Chairman of the CEC Mazahir Panahov, 11 people have submitted their subscription lists to the Commission to participate in the elections as presidential contenders. One more candidate submitted his documents.
Seyidov said a meeting of the PACE Bureau scheduled for 5 September will discuss the military conflict in South Ossetia ongoing between Russia and Georgia.

Rauf Arifoglu, a member of the Azerbaijani opposition Musavat party and chief editor of Yeni Musavat newspaper, believes that a joint summit of parties, which refused to participate in the upcoming presidential elections, needs to hold.
“Musavat proposed to hold such a meeting several months ago. However, Musavat’s proposal was not carried out then. The current processes show the necessity to hold such a summit immediately,” Arifoglu told Trend News.
According to Arifoglu, unfortunately, the unity within opposition is only talking about. “Actually, the approach amongst parties has been observed since the decision not to participate in the elections had been made. No meetings were held between opposition leaders secretly or openly. It is quite an important event which causes alarm. Summit and consultations within the party should have been held immediately after Musavat made a final decision in August. Unfortunately, it is not happening and ice amongst opposition parties has not melt and no steps have been taken to hold cooperation,” Arifoglu said.

The US International Republican Institute (IRI) will not hold exit-poll in the presidential elections to be held in Azerbaijan.
“We will not conduct exit-poll for the lack of financial assistance,” Tural Ahmadov, the head of the IRI Azerbaijan Office’s Political Programs, told Trend News on 13 August.
According to Ahmadov, exit-poll is not expected to be held because the US Agency for International Development has not allocated financial aid.

On 13 August, ‘Elections 2008’ Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) coalition was established to increase public activity in the upcoming presidential elections in Azerbaijan.
Vahid Gazi, the chairman of Inam (Faith) Pluralism Centre, Osman Gunduz, the director of the Multimedia Information Systems and Technologies Centre, Umid Rahimoglu, the chairman of the International Eurasia Media Fund and a member of the Press Council’s Board, and Azar Hasrat, the chairman of KASKFEN, founded the coalition.
The presidential elections will be held in Azerbaijan on 15 October. So far, 12 presidential candidates have submitted their documents to the Central Elections Commission to join the presidential elections.

Azerbaijan opposition Vahdat party intends to support country’s current President Ilham Aliyev as the presidential contender of the governing New Azerbaijan Party (NAP).
“On 16 August, the Supreme Assembly of the party will make a decision conforming to our political course. Probably, the decision will be to support Ilham Aliyev,” Chairman of the Vahdat Tahir Karimli said to Trend News on 13 August.
On 2 August, the NAP convention officially nominated Ilham Aliyev. President’s candidature has been nominated by the Ana Vatan and Social Prosperity parties so far. Moreover, he was nominated by the Trade Union Association of Azerbaijan and the Red Crescent Association of Azerbaijan.

“I regret that Gulamhuseyn Alibayli left Popular Azerbaijan Front Party,” chairman of Popular Azerbaijan Front Party Ali Karimli told APA. He said despite Alibayli’s resignation, the party was committed to its political course.
“We are persistent in our political course and our position. Even if we undergo losses, restrictions and pressures, we will continue our political course,” he said.

As regards Gulamhuseyn Alibayli’s nomination, Ali Karimli said he himself had clarified it better.
“Gulamhuseyn Alibayli said he would not participate in the elections to become president. He did it to draw political dividend. He also intends to establish a party,” he said.

CEC Chairman Mazahir Panahov has met Arjen de Wolff, NDI’s Resident Director in Azerbaijan today, CEC Press Service told APA.
Panahov spoke about the activity of CEC and cooperation with OSCE, the Council of Europe, and International Foundation for Election Systems and other international organizations. Panahov added that all elections held in the country had been observed by hundreds of representatives of international organizations. CEC Chairman noted that all measures had been taken for presidential elections on October 15. Resident Director stated that his meeting with CEC Chairman was of familiarizing character and NDI would focus on the upcoming presidential elections.

Gulamhuseyn Alibayli, former chairman of the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Supreme Assembly, intends to establish a new party.
“It is not ruled out that I will establish a new party. If the idea is realized, the new party will be of a parliamentary type,” Alibayli said to Trend News on 11 August.
Alibayli said he had decided to participate in the upcoming presidential elections and had submitted the relevant documents to the Central Elections Commission (CEC). “I will specify my plans to establish a new party during the elections process. It means that a number of our supporters will be revealed during the elections. Therefore, during the elections process I will make a final decision on establishment of a new party and will take real steps in this direction after the elections,” Alibayli said, hoping that he will gain votes of dissatisfied electorate. “Naturally, I will try to achieve this purpose.

The Central Elections Commission of Azerbaijan (CEC) urged the public to closely participate in specifying lists of voters.
“Specifying lists of voters will be possible till the elections day. Everybody should actively participate in this regard notwithstanding their political position,” Mazahir Panahov, the chairman of the CEC, briefed the media on 12 August.
The CEC registered 4,834,584 voters. More than 4,600,000 people were registered in the lists of voters in 2007.
A total of 52% of registered voters are women and 48% are men.

The Azerbaijani Central Elections Commission (CEC) approved five presidential contenders’ authorized representatives.
The CEC confirmed representatives of the chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan Gudrat Hasanguliyev, the chairman of the Umid Party Igbal Agazade, the chairman of the Muasir Musavat Party Hafiz Hajiyev, the chairman of the Azerbaijani Liberal-Democratic Party Fuad Aliyev and the chairman of the Greens Party Mais Gulaliyev.
At the meeting, it was decided to establish Observation and Revision Service at the CEC. The Service will observe utilization of the allocated funds for the elections committees. The Service includes representatives of the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Taxes, the National Bank, the Chamber of Accounts and CEC’s three members.
The presidential elections will be held in Azerbaijan on 15 October.

The left Social-Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (SDPA) held a meeting but failed to take the final decision regarding the upcoming presidential elections. “As a result of discussions the issue was decided to submit to party’s regional organizations for consideration. The issue is expected to be discussed in the regional organizations for five days. Later, the Central plenary session will make a final decision on the issue,” Araz Alizade, Chairman of SDPA told Trend News.
Azerbaijan will host the presidential elections on 15 October. Ayaz Mutallibov, SDPA another co-chairman, who has been living as an emigrant in Moscow, opposed participation in the elections. Mutalibbov believes that whether he cannot participate in the presidential elections the party should not nominate another candidate.

The oppositional Azerbaijani Democratic Party (ADP) will not participate in presidential elections, to be held on October 15. The decision was made in the congress of the party on August 12, APA reports citing the party’s press service. The Party explains its decision by lack of democratic election environment in the country, as well as by inactivity of other oppositional organizations at elections.