An extraordinary session of the Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan approved a CEC of 15 members by 87 voices for and one against. Before this event a lottery between representatives of four opposition parties took place with the purpose of identifying three candidates for the CEC. The Musavat, AMIP, Democratic and Liberal parties took part. Representatives of the public, international organizations, and journalists observed the lottery, which led to Musavat, the AMIP and the Democratic party to win seats at the CEC. The chairman of the executive committee of the Liberal party Avez Temirhan declared that his party recognizes results of a toss-up. As he said, they have no complaints; simply liberals “were not lucky”. According to the law “On the approval and coming into force of the Election code”, until 2005 the CEC will consist of 15 members, six of which represent opposition parties. From the specified six places, three are given to the parliamentary opposition, namely to the Popular Front (reformers), Party of civil solidarity and Communist Party, which broke a the 6 percent barrier in the 2000 parliamentary elections.

Already on June 13 during the elections the Parliament has selected the following members of CEC: Mazahir Panahov, Svetlana Gasymova, Fuad Javadov, Ramiz Ibragimov, Valida Kazimova, Galib Orujov (all from the New Azerbaijan party). From the parliamentary minority, Asif Mahmudov (PFAP), Enver Aliyev (Civil solidarity), and Khanmurad Ahmedov (Communist) were selected. From independent MPs and the parties represented in parliament on one-mandatory districts, Azer Tagiyev, Ilham Mamedov, Inglab Nasirov. From the four parties that collected the greatest amount of votes on the proportional ballot in the parliamentary elections in 2000 but did not overcome the 6 percent barrier, Vidadi Mahmudov (Musavat), Asef Aliyev (Party of national independence), and Yusif Bagirzade (Democratic party) were nominated.

The procedure of the assignment of CEC members was marred by offensive attacks by MPs from the governing Yeni Azerbaijan party Musa Musaev and Vagif Abdullaev to the candidates from the opposition parties. In particular, Musaev named candidates forwarded by opposition parties “illiterate people with false diplomas”.

The speaker of parliament Murtuz Aleskerov reproached his colleagues for unethical behavior. After negotiations with candidates from the opposition, these returned to the session. On June 14, at the first session of the CEC, Mazahir Panahov again became chairman of this body. The deputy chairperson was also elected from the party in power – Svetlana Gasymova. The CEC also designated October 15 as the date of the next presidential elections By June 17, no later than 120 days prior to the elections, the CEC was to declare officially the date of presidential elections. Then the process of registration of candidates for the election will begin. Then the process of collecting petitions will begin. Documents on the registration of candidates will be carried out from July 1 until August 6. Within 10 days, the documents of candidates should be checked for their compliance with laws. From June 18 until October 5, the CEC will accept applications for monitoring the elections. By July 17, the district election commissions are to be created, and local election commissions by September 5. The election campaign begins on August 16 and will proceed until October 14. Ballots should be delivered to polling districts by October 12. Voting in the elections will take place on October 15 from 8:00 AM until 7:00 PM.

The counting of votes and the drawing up of reports on the results of elections on sites should be made within 24 hours after the end of the day of voting. By October 18, results of voting in the districts should be finalized, and by October 19 they should be published as a summary table with data on polling stations. By October 20, the CEC is to publish preliminary election results. By October 29, the CEC should sum up the results and submit them for approval by the Constitutional court.

According to the Baku newspaper \"Echo\", the U.S. government on various channels is going to finance the participation of at least 500 international observers from various organizations to the elections. Besides, the American government is going to provide funds for the purchase of 5,000 transparent voting boxes.

In a recent development, the Coordination Center of Opposition (CCO) has addressed the Constitutional court and to the Prosecutor General to receive explanations concerning the entering changes to article 179 of the Electoral Code after the approval of this document in parliament.

This amendment allows authorities to suspend the next presidential elections and to appoint a new election in case of the loss of the head of the state’s ability to carry out his powers. In the appeal to the Constitutional Court, the CCO asks for comments concerning the legitimacy of suspending the next elections. The CCO also has dispatched an appeal to the Council of Europe, stating that the Election Code approved by parliament does not allow for the carrying out of free and fair elections.

On June 18, the Democratic Party and AMIP are going to lead a joint protest action before the building of the CEC, demanding the democratization of the Electoral Code.