The Ombudsman Office of Azerbaijan and the Central Election Commission (CEC) jointly organized a series of awareness-raising events on the topic of “Ensuring Citizens’ Voting Rights” related to the forthcoming early presidential elections across the country. The final event in this regard was held in Nakhchivan. Representatives from both institutions, the members of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and media outlets participated in the event.
In her opening speech, Sabina Aliyeva, the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, provided information about her activities related to ensuring voting rights in the country and awareness-raising events on the topic of ensuring citizens’ voting rights jointly held by the Ombudsman Office and the Central Election Commission in the capital and regions due to the forthcoming early presidential elections. The Ombudsman stated that such activities contribute to increasing the legal culture of voters and ensuring a democratic, free, and transparent voting process.
The Ombudsman noted that the forthcoming presidential elections, which hold significant importance in the life of our independent state that has chosen the path of democratic and legal statehood, will be conducted for the first time in all territories of our sovereign country.
According to the Ombudsman, it was observed that the CEC has taken relevant measures to ensure the voting rights of citizens at a high level.
Later, Huseyn Pashayev, a CEC member, spoke about the activities carried out by the CEC on the eve of the forthcoming early presidential elections. He said that , for voters, a “Check Voter Status” functional feature was added at the “ASAN Queue” terminals, which will make it easer for citizens to check their names in the voter list and find out at which polling station they should cast their votes.
During his speech on “The Importance of the Observation Mission and the Role of the Ombudsman in This Process,” Aydin Safikhanli, the Chief of the Ombudsman Office, underlined the significance of the observation mission for the election process, which contributes to ensuring principles of transparency and fairness as well as the more effective provision of voting rights. A. Safikhanli highlighted the importance of the Ombudsman institution in addressing possible shortcomings during the election process and spoke about the institution’s experience in observation.
Günay Rzayeva, the Ombudsman of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, said that the Ombudsman institution of the Autonomous Republc has studied the general situation related to the protection and ensuring citizens’ voting rights in the autonomous republic and that joint awareness-raising events were organized with relevant state institutions in this regard.
In the end, discussions around the topic were held, and participants’ questions were answered.
Source: https://ombudsman.az
