The time allotted for putting forward candidacy in the presidential elections to be held on October 15 will expire on September 5. Press Service of Central Election Commission (CEC) told APA that according to article 58.1 of the Electoral Code, admission of the candidates’ documents began on August 11 and according to article 94.3.1 of the Electoral Code admission of the election documents necessary for registration of candidacy will be over at 18.00 on September 5.

CEC has asserted candidacy of 20 men so far and they have been given signature sheets. Only 5 candidates have given back the signature sheets, candidacy of two of them Ilham Aliyev and Igbal Agazadeh have been registered. /APA/

Chairman of Great Establishment Party, presidential candidate Fazil Gazanfaroglu presented signature sheets to the Central Election Commission (CEC). The party told APA that 881 out of 1000 signatures taken from CEC had been filled. The number of signatures was 44,044. Signature collection campaign covered 91 election constituencies. /APA/

The observation mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will visit Azerbaijan to get familiarized with the pre-election situation in Azerbaijan on 16-18 September.
“The PACE mission visiting Azerbaijan will be comprised of five experts,” permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe, Arif Mammadov, told TrendNews by telephone from Strasburg on 1 September.
Mammadov said that the PACE observers will meet with the CEC Head, political parties and NGOs. /Trend/

The Open Society Party (OSP), which was assumed to participate in the negotiations to establish new cooperation centre of the opposition parties boycotted the elections, stated that discussions on the centre exist on pages of newspapers. “We did not get any official appeal to join the negotiations on the establishment of new cooperation centre. There were definite unofficial discussions. There is not any concrete position on this matter,” Akif Shahbazov, the chairman of the OSP told Trend News on 1 September.
Accoridng to Shahbazov, the OSP is far from expressing negative opinion concerning the new centre. “The party supports joint activity of the opposition and is interested in discussions to prevent mistakes made by the opposition parties, and to fulfill upcoming tasks,” he said.
As to position of the OSP’s leader Rasul Guliyev on the new cooperation centre, Shahbazov said that he knew Guliyev’s concrete position on this matter. “The Union has not established yet. If we get any apply from the formed organization later, we can examine this appeal at the party,” the OSP’s chairman said.
According to Shahbazov, if any union of the opposition is established after the presidential elections, they will clarify their position in line with the political situation. /Trend/

Establishment of new cooperation centre of opposition was debated in the meeting of Musavat Party, held on September 1. The draft document on presidential elections was discussed in the assembly, Sulhaddin Akbar, the chairman of the Party’s Congress told the APA. According to Akbar, the document is under discussion and may be signed by weekend. /APA/

Chairman of Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) Akif Nagi sent a letter to President of Turkey Abdullah Gul and called on him not to visit Yerevan, KLO Press Service told APA.
He said Armenia occupied Azerbaijani lands and did not leave its territorial and false “genocide” claims against Turkey. “Armenia takes hostile position against Azerbaijan and Turkey and has no intentions to leave this enmity. In this case your efforts to repulse malice with goodness have no sense. Your intention to visit Armenia and to view football match have caused serious concern in Azerbaijan. By this action you abuse spirit of ten thousands of Azerbaijanis killed by Armenia. It is especially painful that you intend to do that on the Holy Ramadan days. We believe that you wouldn’t like to damage Azerbaijan-Turkey relationship, to cause protest actions in Azerbaijan and to gladden our enemies”, said Akif Nagi in his letter. /APA/

Head of the Observation Mission of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), former Foreign Minister of Slovenia Boris Frlec has arrived in Baku. APA reports that seven more observers of the mission have arrived in Azerbaijan along with Frlec.
The members of the mission have started meetings with Azerbaijani officials, as well as Chairman of the Central Election Commission Mazahir Panahov to study the pre-election situation as from today.

Long-term observers will officially start activity as from September 7 and their number will reach 30 by the elections. The number of OSCE observers on the day of election will make up 460.
They will observe the process in all the regions of the republic. /APA/

Hafiz Hajiyev, Chairman of the Muasir Musavat party and a presidential contender, has submitted a signature list to the Central Election Commission (CEC), a source from the party reported to Trend News.
Candidates have to collect 40,000 signatures within 10 days in order to pass registration in CEC. CEC has officially registered the candidature of the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev. /Trend/

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan prepared notices to inform voters of the place and time of the voting during the presidential elections, a source at the CEC press service told TrendNews.
The presidential elections in Azerbaijan will be held on 15 October. Currently the CEC confirmed candidatures of 20 pretenders.
Of them, the CEC registered candidatures of pretenders from ruling New Azerbaijan Party, current President Ilham Aliyev, and chairman of opposition Umid Party, Igbal Agazade.
According to the information, the prepared 5mln notices will be provided to the district election commissions and further to the voters. /Trend/

The Central Election Commission has registered Umid Party’s Chairman Igbal Agazadeh as a candidate for the presidency of Azerbaijan on Saturday, AAP reports. The commission’s working group approved 40 777 signatures he submitted to CEC for his registration and rejected 3256 ones. Agazadeh’s nomination has been registered as it demands 40 000 signatures for this process.
CEC has also approved candidacy of self-nominated former Azerbaijani ambassador to Iran Aliyar Safarli and unemployed Mubariz Allahverdiyev. The commission members have discussed at the meeting on Saturday the number of final protocols and their preparations.
CEC has also approved the text of notification for the voters informing them about the voting time and place and made some changes in the composition of district election commissions.
/APA/

Voters, who will not be able to vote in the place of their permanent registration, will be granted deregistration cards by the constituency election commissions.
Mazahir Panahov, Chairman of the Central Election Commission, said the voters can take deregistration cards from 45 days before the elections.
He also requested the full-time students, who are not studying in the place of registration place, to take deregistration cards.
He also invited IDPs to take cards from the elections commissions.
/APA/

The discussions on changing of format of the Azerbaijani Opposition Parties Democratic Elections Centre (DEC) were postponed. “After consultations with the parties represented in the DEC we decided to hold a meeting next week,” Ahmad Oruj, Chairman of the Azadlig party, which is represented in the DEC, said to Trend News on 29 August.
DEC was established in January by nine opposition parties – the Classic Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (CPFPA), Azadlig, Azerbaijan National Democratic Party, Great Establishment Party, Popular Front Party of Unified Azerbaijan (PFPUA), Great Azerbaijan Party, Open Society Party, Takamul and the Greens Party. Chairmen of the PFPUA and the Greens Party – Gudrat Hasanguliyev and Mais Gulaliyev – nominated themselves for presidency. The remaining seven DEC parties refused to participate in the elections.
The issues regarding discharging from the Centre of the parties which decided to participate in the elections were expected to be clarified and the format of Centre’s further operation to be determined on 29 August.
According to Oruj, the parties which are represented in the DEC and are involved in presidential elections are experiencing a tensed period of signature collection campaign. “Once the campaign is over, DEC will meet to decide whether to change the format of the Centre or not,” he said.
Oruj said the DEC parties involved in the elections have no obligations to the Centre. “We were aware of their participation in the elections, so they did not break any obligation,” he said.
According to Oruj, it is too early to say whether the format of DEC will be changed or not. /Trend/