BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission Chairman Mazakhir Panakhov said Thursday his country is not a hotbed for the so-called color revolution.

    With the parliamentary election coming in a few days, Azerbaijan is even calmer than the election commission had expected and the country is seeing robust economic growth, Panakhov told the RIA Novosti news agency.

    Even some Western observers have differentiated Azerbaijan from the countries that had experienced the color revolutions, he said.

    A total of 2,000 candidates have been vying for seats in the 125-member Milli Mejlis, Azerbaijan's one-chamber parliament, but the number has dropped to about 1,500 after some candidates withdrew from the race voluntarily or due to lawsuits against them, Panakhov said.

    From the start, the government has tried to make the whole process as transparent as possible, posting voter lists and candidate lists on the Central Election Commission's website and setting up a telephone hotline for inquiries, he said.

    Indelible ink will be applied on every voter's fingers to prevent multiple voting, and exit polls will be conducted on the polling day, he added.

    A total of 4.66 million voters are expected to go to polling stations across the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation on Sunday to electa new Milli Mejlis. Enditem