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Azerbaijan takes steps for fair vote
 Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has ordered urgent steps to make sure a 6 November parliamentary election is fair after Washington voiced concern over a police crackdown in the oil-producing ex-Soviet state. Aliyev told officials on Tuesday to draw up plans for applying indelible ink to voters' fingers and asked parliament to scrap a ban on foreign non-governmental organisations monitoring the election, state television reported. Both measures were recommended by democracy watchdog the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) but had been rejected by Aliyev's administration. Aliyev - son of the previous head of state - said he changed his mind because he wanted "the final phase of the election process to pass off ... in accordance with the law". Posted by: Fred 2005-10-26 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=133164 |