Mancham invited on Capdi observer team at Azerbaijan Presidential poll |16 September 2013

Seychelles founding President James R. Mancham will form part of a team from the Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International (Capdi) who have been invited by the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Milli Mejlis, to observe the Presidential election in Azerbaijan from October 7-11, 2013.

Mr Mancham has been invited to join the delegation by José de Venecia, Capdi’s President and a former speaker of the house of representatives of Philippines.

In a letter dated September 2, 2013 to Mr Mancham, President de Venecia says: "We are honoured to invite you as Capdi's vice-president and member of the governing council to join the Capdi delegation in monitoring the conduct of the Azerbaijan electoral process. The election will be held on October 9, 2013. We are confident that our Capdi election mission will uphold the Capdi objectives of promoting good governance and fighting corruption; empowering the youth, women and minority groups; protecting human rights; and strengthening democracy and the rule of law."

In a statement issued on Friday from Geneva (where he had been taking part in the Earth Dialogue Conference) before heading for Prague to take part in the Sea-World Ocean Festival, Mr Mancham said he was deeply honoured with the invitation, particularly at this time of great progress and social and economic advancement in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Known for its wealth of crude oil and natural gas reserves, Azerbaijan is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south.

It boasts 86.6 thousand square kilometers (33.436 thousand sq mi) in total and a population of around 9.4 million people.