OSCE Office in Baku holds media roundtable discussion on covering elections

BAKU, 24 August 2010 - A roundtable discussion organized by the OSCE Office in Baku on the role of media in the run-up to forthcoming parliamentary elections started today.

The event, the third in a series of roundtable discussions held as a follow-up to recommendations from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, aims to help ensure that overall coverage of the election is fair, inclusive, accurate, equitable and impartial.

"Media must strive to ensure that all political parties, coalitions, citizens' initiatives and independent candidates receive fair and equitable news coverage as well as fair exposure through interviews, articles, debates and coverage of campaign activities during the entire electoral process,", said Ambassador Bilge Cankorel, the Head of the OSCE Office in Baku, in his opening speech.

"Pluralistic media is essential for democratic elections and the OSCE Office in Baku is assisting the media community in Azerbaijan with this objective in mind."

Representatives from the Presidential Administration, the Central Election Commission, the National TV and Radio Council, political parties, media outlets, civil society, including the Press Council, and the international community were invited to take part in the roundtable discussion.

This is the third OSCE-organized roundtable discussion on election matters ahead of the November 2010 parliamentary elections. The first event, organized in April, focused on election campaign issues, including the implementation of the Law on Freedom of Assembly and preventing illegal interference in the election process. The second event in May was a discussion forum on election administration issues, including the composition of election commissions, registration of candidates, and dealing with election-related complaints.