Ahead of the election in Azerbaijan 9 October 2013, United Nations experts stated that they “observed since 2011 a worrying trend of legislation which has narrowed considerably the space in which civil society and defenders operate in Azerbaijan”. Following the election, OSCE found that “the limitations placed on the fundamental freedoms of assembly, association, and expression, the lack of a level playing field, the allegations of intimidation all came in the lead up to an election day that our observers found to be seriously flawed.”
The observation mission to Azerbaijan of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) however assesses that the election was “free, fair and transparent”, not taking into account the situation in the country ahead of the election. PACE’s Standing Committee adopted the election monitoring report at its session in Vienna on 22 November 2013.
The credibility of the knowledge more weakened
In their letter [download on the right], NGOs state that the credibility of the knowledge gained by the PACE observation mission is even more weakened by statements congratulating the Azerbaijani authorities on the “sound technical preparations” made for the Presidential election. One can indeed not ignore that Azerbaijan’s technical preparation included the creation of a smartphone app by the Central Election Commission, which announced President Ilham Aliyev’s reelection one day before the Presidential election day.
In its resolution 1917 (2013), PACE indeed stated that “not a single parliamentary or presidential election has fully met democratic standards and that a number of shortcomings and deficiencies in the electoral process, in particular with regard to the electoral code, the composition of the election commission, candidate registration, observers and the complaints and appeals procedure, must be addressed in time for the next elections.
Documents:
- Joint NGO letter to PACE (November 2013)
- Opinion by Tatiana Pechonchik: “Aliyev’s frozen time”
- Citizens of Azerbaijan deserve better
- “An extensive campaign against independent voices”
- Azerbaijan’s president run turns ugly over media crackdown
- Elections are not only about choosing one candidate: HRHF’s statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2013
Harassment of domestic election observers
On 28 and 30 October 2013, two of the leaders of Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS) were called for questioning to the Major Crimes Investigation Department of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan. They were told that any organisation receiving large amount of grants from foreign sources is under scrutiny and hence they were brought in for questioning. Investigators were particularly interested in the election observation work done in relation to the Presidential elections.
On 31 October 2013, a search was conducted in EMDS’s office. Print materials, press releases, reports, along with programme and financial documents were confiscated, as well as two computers.
» More about the harassment of domestic election observers following the elections
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