The participation of the internally displaced persons (IDP) in the municipal elections is a problem, the chairman of the Azerbaijan Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov said.
“Municipalities are formed of people living on these territories. Due to the fact that IDP are living in different areas, they do not have opportunities to set up own municipalities. We are making efforts to address this problem,” Panahov told reporters.
Azerbaijan has over one million refugees and IDP. Some 250,000 of them are ethnic Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia in 1988-1992, 600,000 – from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, 100,000 – from the border regions of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Azerbaijani municipal election is scheduled for mid December, 2009.
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