Vice-President Grossruck and Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov in Baku.VIENNA, 20 October 2010 -- PA Vice-President Wolfgang Grossruck, Special Co-ordinator and leader of the short-term OSCE observer mission to the 2010 general elections in Azerbaijan, visited the country on a pre-assessment mission from 14 to 18 October.

He met with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, the Speaker of the Parliament (Milli Mejlis) Ogtay Asadov, and the Deputy Speaker and leader of the PA Delegation of Azerbaijan, Bahar Muradova, as well as with Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev, Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov and the Chairman of the Central Election Commission Mazahir Panahov. He also met with representatives of political parties and NGOs, as well as staff from the OSCE Office in Baku and the ODIHR long-term observation mission.

Mr. Grossruck welcomed any steps to be taken in order to address issues observed during registration and the beginning of the election campaign.

In Vienna on 18 October, Mr. Grossruck addressed the opening of the second segment of the 2010 OSCE Review Conference, calling upon the diplomatic representatives of the participating States to follow up on recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly. He also urged the OSCE to revise its structures and working methods in order to strengthen democratic processes in its multilateral decision-making.

In particular, he reiterated calls for the Parliamentary Assembly to be consulted on the selection of the Secretary General and the Director of the ODIHR. He also reiterated the OSCE PA’s expectation that in the future the external auditing of the OSCE will be more professional, truly independent and involve the Parliamentary Assembly.

In conclusion, he urged the participants of the Review Conference to make use of the deliberations in the next days to examine the OSCE’s structures and working methods in light of the necessity to strengthen transparency and accountability within the Organization.