of the activities of leaders during elections " 26 . In addition , they noted that during the elections ( before the start of the campaign ) the CEC should establish an independent media council with a professional , non-partisan staff , with a clear mandate to oversee the campaign through the media .
In the package of the above-mentioned proposals , we presented the key points that were essentially related to the election process in Azerbaijan . It was obvious that in 2004 according to the package of proposals , priority should be given to reviewing the Electoral Code to ensure that pro-government members do not dominate election commissions , and NGOs with international funding are allowed to appoint election observers . It should be stated that twenty opposition parties united in the Alliance for the Progress of Azerbaijan have announced that they will boycott the upcoming local elections . In particular , they stated that they had information that a list of candidates had been prepared , which included mayors and members , who are mainly members of the New Azerbaijan party or independent candidates supporting the so-called ruling party . The opposition representatives of the bloc also mentioned that in these conditions the results of the elections will be falsified and that they do not find it expedient to participate in the local elections . However , we will represent the extent to which the Azerbaijani government has made targeted changes in a summary . According to VC 2006 June 12 report 27 , Azerbaijan has not implemented reforms in a number of areas :
AREA I : Subparagraph ( c ) states : “ One of the remaining shortcomings of the Electoral Code of Azerbaijan is the fact that , according to international observers , the conduct of election commissions continued to be strongly in favor of the government , thus undermining trust in the independence of the electoral administration ” 28 . In other words , Azerbaijani authorities directly ignored the recommendations made in 2004 regarding the new composition of the commission being composed of representatives from different political parties , in order to increase public trust in the work of the commissions .
AREA II : Referring to Azerbaijan in 2006 report , the VC noted that the latter did not implement the 2004 Recommendations on reducing the signature requirements raised by the VC and ODIHR 29 . This refers to the reduction of the number of 45,000 signatures required for the registration of presidential candidates .
26
Ibid , p . 8 .
27
Venice Commission , “ Report on electoral law and electoral administration in Europe ”, CDL-AD ( 2006 ) 018 , June 12 , 2006 , https :// www . venice . coe . int / webforms / documents / default . aspx ? pdffile = CDL-AD ( 2006 ) 018-e
28
Ibid , p . 9 .
29
Ibid . p . 18
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