Russian official describes elections in Azerbaijan as example to follow

There is a great deal of voter activity at polling station #2 of the Sabail district's constituency #7, which is located at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Azerbaijan.

Grigory Karasin, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Committee on International Affairs made the statement while talking to reporters after visiting the polling station, Report informs.

"We see an enormous number of optimistic-looking people. We can see that they believe in what lies to come. People want to vote for prosperity, for a modern, sovereign Azerbaijan that will bring positive results for everyone," Karasin said.

According to him, today's elections in Azerbaijan can become a model for the presidential elections in Russia: "Russia is also getting ready to vote in March, and we [observers] are going to bring with us some of the experience gained in Baku".

The Secretary General of the CIS IPA Council, Dmitry Kobitsky, told journalists that preparations for the presidential elections in Azerbaijan have been carried out at the highest level and are very well organised.

"The elections in Azerbaijan fully meet all democratic norms, all standards. And I can say that the preparation of the election campaign in Azerbaijan has been carried out at a high level. This was confirmed by meetings with candidates and with the organisers of the election process, including the Central Election Commission. We also had meetings in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in Parliament. Therefore, we can now definitely conclude that the country is perfectly prepared for the elections," he said.

Kobitsky stressed that the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly has been observing elections for 30 years this year: "In order to make the observation more objective and understandable for all participants in the process, it was decided to establish the International Institute for Monitoring Democratic Development. The decision was adopted here, in Baku, in 2005."