Council of Europe Congress: Ian Micallef calls for election of the Mayor of Baku

“It is time that Azerbaijan joins the other countries of South Caucasus in electing the mayor of its capital city,” Ian Micallef, President a.i. of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, stated on the eve of his official visit to this country.

“I reiterate our calls on the Azerbaijani authorities, made by the Congress in recent years, to have the Mayor of Baku elected and not appointed. This will serve to reinforce local democracy in the country. The first-ever election of the Mayor of Yerevan in Armenia in May this year, and the initiative of the Georgian President to elect directly the Mayor of Tbilisi, which is already an elected position, have created democratic momentum in South Caucasus. With a view to its municipal elections in December, Azerbaijan should follow theses positive examples,” he said.

“The election of the Mayor of Baku will also be in the spirit of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which Azerbaijan ratified in 2002”, concluded Micallef.