A range of educational events covering various election stakeholders regarding the early Presidential elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan, appointed to February 7, 2024 is continued to be carried out.

An online seminar on “Roles and duties of mass media in the Presidential elections” for representatives of mass media functioning in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic was held with the joint organization of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and Media Development Agency (MEDIA) on January 18, 2024.

The main purpose of the organization of the seminar is further raising awareness of mass media representatives and the efficieny of their activity in the Presidential elections.

At the seminar, Mr. Natig Mammadli, Head of the Department of Media Development Agency, in his introductory speech highlighted the principles to be abided by journalists  during broadcasting the elections. Mr. Natig Mammadli emphasized on the importance of adhering to the relevant articles of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Media”, at the same time, focused on professional ethic rules for representatives of mass media.

Mr. Ilkin Shahbazov, CEC member spoke at the online seminar about common requirements to conduct pre-election campaign, pre-election campaign subjects, their rights and duties in the Presidential elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He noted that the Press Group functioning under the Central Election Commission (CEC), consisting of mainly, journalists shall implement supervision on abidance by the rules to conduct pre-election campaign in the media, as determined in the Election Code.

Later, Mr. Shahin Asadli, Head of the Media and Communication Department spoke about the roles and duties of mass media outlets in the payable and free pre-election campaign and also, provided detailed information to the participants about publicizing the election process, ensuring openness and transparency, as well as, the activity of mass media during the pre-election campaign and on the voting day.

At the end of the seminar, the questions of journalists were replied to and the issues interesting to them were clarified.