PACE Delegation Makes Pre-electoral Visit to Azerbaijan
A five-member delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Jordi Xuclà (Spain, ALDE), will carry out a pre-electoral visit to Baku on 21-22 September 2015, to assess the electoral framework and campaign prior to the parliamentary elections on 1 November in Azerbaijan.
The delegation is due to meet the Speaker of the Parliament, the leaders of parliamentary groups and parties represented in the Parliament as well as leaders of opposition parties not represented in the Parliament. Talks are also scheduled with the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE, the President of the Central Electoral Commission and representatives of NGOs and the media.
The delegation will issue a written statement at the end of the pre-election visit.
Members of the delegation:
Jordi Xuclà (Spain, ALDE), head of the delegation
Franck Schwabe (Germany, SOC)
Aleksandar Nikoloski ("The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", EPP / CD)
Egemen Bağiş (Turkey, EC)
Agustín Conde (Spain, EPP / CD), PACE co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan.-06D-
Politics
-
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
-
This year, the laureate of the annual Nargiz Prize, awarded for efforts in the fight for democracy, was Akif Gurbanov, chairman of the board of the Resplatforma (Platform of the III Republic) movement, who is under arrest.
-
The U.S. will prohibit the issuing of visas for nearly a dozen more individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia, bringing the total number to over 100, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
-
The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has expressed condolences to the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following the tragic incident in the city of Magdeburg. "We are deeply shocked by the news of the deaths and injuries resulting from the tragic incident that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg," the message reads.
Leave a review