Byline: Tatiana Pechonchik, journalist and leader of the Information Center for Human Rights, Kiev-Baku (member of the Human Rights House Kiyv).

The Azerbaijani authorities started preparations for the elections well in advance. In 2009 the country held a referendum which resulted in that a provision was excluded from the constitution, the one that prohibits one person to hold the presidential post for more than two terms. Thus Ilham Aliyev, despite criticism from the Venice Commission, received the green light to run for the third time.

In 2010, new amendments were added to the electoral code, that reduced the period of election campaign to 22 days. In 2012 and 2013 a number of changes were added concerning the increase of penalties for violation of public order, including organization of and participation in unauthorized rallies. Procedures for obtaining funding has been tightened for non-governmental organizations.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan received documents from 21 candidates, 10 of which were subsequently registered as presidential candidates. Among those who were not allowed to participate in elections – was the only candidate from the opposition National Council of Democratic Forces, Rustam Ibrahimbekov. At the time of the nomination he was outside of the Azerbaijan because of accusations of tax evasion of the Union of Cinematographers, of which he is a leader. Instead of Ibrahimbekov the opposition put forward as a candidate a professor of the Baku State University, Jamil Gasanly.

All is well, beautiful marquise!

On the Election Day we, we, the Human Rights House Network team,  go to the polling stations in Baku – ”to feel the atmosphere”. At the first one, a company of seven men attacks my colleague from the Caucasian Knot, Grigory Shvedov. Entrance for the journalists is forbidden, they argue. However, nobody can say which law prohibits that.

It is quieter on another polling stations. Transparent ballot boxes, booths, and screens in three colors: blue, green and red, like the Azerbaijani flag.

Members of the electoral commissions share the current information about the voting process and demonstrate how “the finger” works. (In order to prohibit one person from voting twice, voter’s left thumb is marked with ink. They are not visible in normal light, but under ultraviolet light). At one of the stations upon our arrival a table with dishes is made ready– there is tea, candy, and cake. “Help yourself, feel the Azerbaijan hospitality” – invites a woman from the election commission.

I find my way to the observers and start a conversation.

–       How is it here?

–       As you see, everything is calm, everyone comes and votes. There are no violations.

I am interested, from which party is the observer that is keeping my company. This question, it seems, put her into a dead end. She thinks about it for a while, and then looks at her papers and answers: “The Party “New Azerbaijan” (the ruling pro-presidential political party of Azerbaijan – author.)

At this time, a group of youth men in tracksuits enters. When they see us, they hurry out.

The last station we visit is run by a woman in a purple suit. They say she is sister of the Minister of Transport, but her nametag is always rotated so that it is hard to see her name and surname.

“She runs “the carousel” here. When I started filming, she lashed out at me” – says Anar Gasamli, an observer from the party Umid, and shows the video.

Observers note violations

At the Center of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies the work is at full swing on the election day. Every minute here details poor in from 769 observers around the whole country.

“It is the first time we collect information from the observers via SMS. Sometimes the network is not working, sometimes a server is blocked” – complains Bashir Suleymanli, executive director of the organization.

However, the technical problems are not the only ones that the Center for Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies face. At the start, the authorities refused to register the organization and then did not want to register its activists as election observers.

“They refused to give accreditation to hundreds of our trained observers. But after the talks with U.S. Embassy, CEC allowed at the last moment these people to observer the elections” – says Anar Mammadli, chairman of the Center for Monitoring Elections and Democracy Studies.

The results of the monitoring by the organization, made public after the election, showed serious violations during the voting and counting, as well as the facts of pressure and attacks on observers.

In particular, on 44% of the sites violations of the secrecy of the voting were recorded, at 38% of the sites there were incidents when voters were allowed to vote without marking fingers with special ink, and at 44% of the sites – upon the arrival of voters the existence of special ink was not registered. At 17% of the polling stations some voters could not find themselves in the lists, at the 37% of stations there were incidents when voters were instructed on whom they should vote for. Observers also recorded the “carousels” (at 38% of stations), “throwing of voting ballots” (at 32 % of stations), and other violations.

Centre for Sociological Research “Outlook” on the day of elections at 10:30 local time announced the results of exit-poll, according to which 92,15% of the respondents voted for the current head of state, Ilham Aliyev.

“The publication of polls during voting is a serious violation of the Electoral Code” – said Bashir Suleymanli. According to him, “all the exit-poll results in Azerbaijan are not credible, because they are held by pro-governmental structures or by their foreign partners. At the same time independent structures were denied of conduction an exit-poll” – he stressed.

All is sterile in the media space

Moving along the embankment of Baku it is hard not to notice the beautiful building in Bibi-Heybat that glows far in the dark. Here one can find hundred and fifty brand new apartments that Ilham Aliyev gave to reporters in July, few months before the elections.

Azerbaijani information agency “Turan” – perhaps the only one that rejected the generous gift for their employees.

“In Azerbaijan, almost all media – government, public and private – is under the control of authorities” – says the director of “Turan” Agency, Mehman Aliyev. According to him, in September 2013 the presidential candidate Ilham Aliyev was shown on the seven main channels during total of 12 hours, and it was positive materials, during which he speaks, opens businesses. While the main opposition candidate Jamil Gasanly was given only 16 minutes on the television, and even that – a continuously negative material.

“Aliyev also did not participate during the TV debates. One of candidates showed himself opposition-minded, but spoke and left immediately, while other candidates attacked Jamil Gasanly and acted as Ilham Aliyev’s lawyers” – said the journalist.

He added that videos calling to vote for Ilham Aliyev appeared on the TV channel “Leader” in the morning of the election day: “This is a complete violation of the electoral law, because promotion is prohibited during the days before the election day.“

It is possible to get more balanced information from the bureaus of foreign media working in Azerbaijan. Such as, for example, Radio Liberty or BBC. But foreign radio stations were banned from broadcasting on FM-waves; it is only possible to get access to on Internet.

Khadija Ismailova from Radio Liberty felt on her own experience the beauty of work of the independent media in Azerbaijan. After a series of investigations into corruption of the higher echelons of power, she began to receive anonymous threats. Then a video appeared on the Internet about the intimate life of the journalist, shot with a hidden camera in her apartment. As a result of the investigation conducted by Ismailova herself, it was revealed that the wires for covert surveillance and audio-hearing were attached on orders from the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan.

Ismailova calls today’s Azerbaijani regime for “demokratura”, i.e. a dictatorship that pretends to be a democracy. “The election results are predetermined in advance, and Ilham Aliyev is not chosen, but proclaimed a president” – she said.

At the same time, according to the journalist, the opposition candidate Jamil Hasanly surprised everyone with his level of criticism: “He spoke openly about corruption, in which the presidential family has been involved. And it was the first time when people of Azerbaijan could hear this on the local television”.

The scandal with international observers

The day after the elections, there is no place for an apple to fall at the hotel Hyatt Regency. Here, the delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has announced its findings on election observation.

According to the 350 observers from 40 countries, at 58% of voting stations irregularities were recorded during the counting of votes. There were also shortcomings in the organizing during voting. In addition, representatives from OSCE noted that the pre-election campaign was held in a restriction of freedom of speech and assembly, while candidates did not have equal access to the media and could not campaign freely.

“Azerbaijani people deserve better, and we are ready to help with this” – summed up the head of ODIHR observation mission Tana de Zulueta.

Such findings were not well received by some journalists present. They began to shout and clap their hands, making it difficult for speakers from OSCE to talk, attacking and insulting them. “At our press-conference we wanted to answer questions from the journalists. But unfortunately it was interrupted. Journalists interrupted us with applauding and loudly whistling. I have never experienced something like that. I remember that our press conference was disrupted like that only once in Zimbabwe” – said later Tana de Zulueta in an interview with Radio Liberty.

“Serious violations” during the presidential elections on Friday were also confirmed by U.S. State Department.

The mission of observers from CIS, however, praised the elections. The head of the mission, Sergei Lebedev, said that given the clear advantage Aliyev has, his supporters had “no need to try to influence the voting of falsify the election results”.

As a surprise to many, the observers from the European Parliament and the PACE also recognized the elections in Azerbaijan as democratic, transparent and consistent with international standards. “On the election day, we did not witness any pressure on voters. Overall, the elections were democratic, despite the fact that there are still serious problems with freedom of speech” – said the head of the observation mission of the European Parliament, Pinot Arlachchi.

In response, the opposition announced the “backroom deals” and “caviar diplomacy” in PACE, hinting that the Azerbaijani authorities are trying to buy loyalty from the members of the Council of Europe with the help of expensive gifts and black caviar. And in the OSCE it was noted that there were only about a dozen observers from the European Parliament and PACE – too few to make a complete picture of the elections.

Human rights organizations also criticized the reports of Euro-delegation. “We are surprised and disappointed that the overall mission of the European Parliament and PACE on Election Observation in Azerbaijan has concluded that the elections were free and fair. Even if these observers spent in the country only a few days, they still had to see the bigger picture” – said Maria Dahle, executive director of the Human Rights House Foundation.

She believes that the members of PACE and the European Parliament should be more attentive to the work of their organizations members, that monitor elections, and “remind then of human rights standards and those core values advocated by the EU and the Council of Europe”.

What’s next?

Those dissatisfied with the results of the elections have gathered on Saturday in Baku at the “Mahsul” stadium. According to police 1500 people gathered for the rally, but according to the opposition they were ten times more. The opposition has already challenged the election results in the court, but it seems that no one expects any justice. “All court decisions are in favor of the election commission” – says Intigam Aliyev, chairman of the “Society of Legal Education”, member of the Human Rights House Azerbaijan.

According to the experts, the further actions of the opposition may affect the credit ratings of Azerbaijan. “Difficult times for the Azerbaijani economy are coming. The draft budget for 2014 is already showing some problems: less money will be coming in from oil production, while budget deficit will grow. This will force the government to implement some reforms in the country” – says Khadija Ismailova.

According to her, the views of the European Parliament are important for the Azerbaijani authorities, cause during the Vilnius summit the government hopes to sign a strategic partnership agreement with the EU. “The results of the elections and the level of fraud – these are important indicators for the EU. We will see if Azerbaijani authorities will be able to convince EU officials of its legitimacy” – said Ismailova.

Tatiana Pechonchik, journalist and leader of the Information Center for Human Rights, Kiev-Baku (member of the Human Rights House Kiyv). The trip was supported by the Human Rights House Foundation.

Tatiana Pechonchik, journalist and leader of the Information Center for Human Rights, Kiev-Baku together with photojournalist Mehman Huseynov during the presidential elections in Azerbaijan.