ISLAMABAD, FEB 01 (DNA) – : Ambassador of Azerbaijan Ali Alizada has said relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan are from cordial to excellent adding upcoming parliamentary elections in his country would help further gear up progress and development in Azerbaijan.

The ambassador expressed these views while talking to delegation of observers comprising media people and think-thank heading to Baku to observer the parliamentary elections being held on February 9.

As many as 15 observers from Pakistan will travel to Baku for election observation. This is one of the biggest observers’ delegations, the ambassador told.

The ambassador added promotion of bilateral relations including   people to people contacts are need of the hour for the economies of both the countries. The Ambassador also hailed media of both the countries for its positive role in strengthening this relationship.

Ali Alizada went on to say that the forthcoming parliamentary elections will further strengthen the democracy in his country which in turn will benefit the people.

He said that in all 1637 candidates have been registered out of whom 272 represent 19 different political parties which is a clear manifestation of the open competition . Talking about the women candidates he said that this time 357 women candidates are taking part in the elections whereas this number was just 141 in 2015.

The Ambassador also spoke at length about the elaborate arrangements, the  Central Election Commission has made for the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections in the country.

Earlier, Samir Guliyev Deputy Head of the Mission and Mr. Elchin Mahdiyev, Third Secretary received the participants and briefed them about the forthcoming visit as well as the elections.

It may be mentioned here that observers from other countries have started arriving in Baku. Frank Schwabe has been appointed as a head the observation mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The observation mission representing all 5 political groups represented in PACE is expected to arrive in Azerbaijan to observe the parliamentary elections during February 6-10.

Some 694 international observers have passed accreditation in regard with the snap elections to the Azerbaijani Parliament, said Mazahir Panahov, Chairman of Central Election Commission (CEC) at the CEC meeting. M. Panahov noted that the number of international observers is satisfactory.=DNA

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