BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 2. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) mission acknowledges the transparency of the past parliamentary election in Azerbaijan, head of the observer mission from the SCO, Deputy Secretary General of the SCO Nuran Niyazaliyev said during a media briefing, TurkicWorld reports.
"The election to the Parliament of Azerbaijan met the requirements of the Constitution and the Electoral Code of Azerbaijan, as well as the international obligations accepted by the country," he also said.
According to him, the mission hasn't detected any violations that would hinder the free expression of the country's citizens.
"No external interference or pressure on the activities of precinct election commissions was identified. The mission considers the election to be transparent, credible, and democratic, noting that it was an important step towards further development of democratic processes in Azerbaijan," he added.
Niyazaliev also congratulated Azerbaijan on the election of the new, seventh convocation of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan.
The snap parliamentary election was held in Azerbaijan on September 1.
According to preliminary data, the voter turnout in the election reached 37.27 percent.
A total of 2,196,771 voters had cast their ballots in the election, and 5,895 polling stations submitted their protocols to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan.
A total of 112,749 local observers have been registered, including over 65,000 representatives of political parties. There were 598 international observers from 51 organizations and 69 countries.
Among the 990 registered candidates, 305 represent 25 political parties, while 371 are party members but were not nominated by their parties. In total, 676 candidates are affiliated with political parties.
