For the conduct of the early Presidential Elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan, appointed to February 7, 2024 in a free, fair and transparent manner, also awareness-raising of the election stakeholders with different status, large-scale activities are being carried out subsequently and systematically.
According to the educational program on different fields for the election actors, regional seminars dedicated to the election dispute resolution started within the joint project with the Central Election Commission (CEC) and Institute of Human Rights. The event conducted in new format and topic for the first time in the Republic of Azerbaijan was aiming at raising awareness and improving professional skills of the members of the Expert Group which function under Constituency Election Commissions (Con.ECs) to investigate appeals and complaints against the actions (inactions) and decisions violating the citizens’ election rights.
The first seminar in accordance with the draft program started with the introductory speech by Mr. Rovzat Gasimov, CEC Deputy Chairman and Mr. Mahammad Guluzadeh, Chair of the Board of the Institute of Law and Human Rights in Radisson Hotel in Baku on December 25, 2023. Members of the CEC Expert Group, specialists of the Institute of Law and Human Rights, officials of the relevant structural departments of the CEC Secretariat, as well as, 102 members of the Con.EC Expert Groups responsible for the investigation of appeals and complaints also participated at the event.
During the seminar, the speeches by the Commission members represented in the CEC Expert Group and specialists of the Institute of Law and Human Rights were heard concerning the legal requirements for election dispute resolution and principles of examining appeals and complaints, investigation of the election-related appeals by Con.ECs and basis of the function of the Expert Groups, as well as, free election right at the European Convention of Human Rights were heard and the topics were thoroughly informed upon using visual aids.
Workshops on cases of the election legislation and expert functioning was held and the participants were involved in tests at the practical part of the seminar.
All the Con.EC Expert Group members who took part in the seminar were submitted Guide Book compiled for the first time that includes the timeframe, subsequence, rules of investigating the appeals and estimation of the evidences, as well as, the thorough and clear information on the preparation procedures of opinions and decision draft.
It should be noted that regional seminars dedicated to the election dispute resolution carried out within the CEC large-scale educational program are planned on December 26 in Sumgayit, on December 27 in Ganja and Shaki, on December 29 in Nakhchivan and Masalli, covering all the members of the Expert Groups of 125 Con.ECs.