Updated article: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will observe the 1 November parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, following several respected observers pulling out due to restrictions imposed upon them by the authorities.

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was compelled to cancel its observation mission due to restrictions imposed on it by the Azerbaijani authorities, and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly decided not to send observers. The European Parliament is not allowed into the country either. On 28 September, however, PACE confirmed its decision to send an election observation mission to Azerbaijan to monitor the 2015 parliamentary elections.

As the only international observer, it is critical that PACE accurately reports on the election, but its isolation as the only observer increases the risk that it will be prevented from fully and independently reporting on events.

Human Rights House Network (HRHN) is concerned that PACE’s international monitoring mission will not address the wider cycle of repression in Azerbaijan, that it risks government interference and control, and that it will suffer from a lack of resources and longevity, which will hamper the accuracy of the mission reporting and obscure the broader political situation in the country.

PACE will only conduct a short-term election observation mission. There will be no observation of the electoral climate in the country. To be credible, PACE must consider the periods before and after the election, in addition to the few days it will be able to observe in the country.

PACE President Anne Brasseur has herself raised questions over the professionalism and impartiality of the PACE delegates, and conveyed fears that the PACE mission will only serve to legitimise elections that are clearly illegitimate.

We remember PACE’s report on the presidential election in 2013, which was the only observer claiming the presidential election was “free, fair, and transparent.” This view contradicts reports from civil society on the ground, especially from the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS), as well as the facts reported by ODIHR. In reality, the election was controlled and arbitrary, and took place amid a climate of repression in which opposition candidates, civil society activists, and human rights defenders were threatened, intimidated, and imprisoned. Anar Mammadli, the head of EMDS, fell victim to this repression. He was arrested right after the election and remains in prison.

The recent statement given by PACE’s pre-electoral mission, headed by Spanish MP Jordi Xuclà, has done little to subdue our anxiety. It neglects entirely to mention the current crackdown on independent voices, imprisonment of prominent opposition members, journalists, and human rights defenders, and climate of fear and intimidation around those who are still free and inside the country. Instead, the statement highlights that “progress has been made since last parliamentary elections five years ago,” but does not explain in what field or clarify the sources on which it is based.

In fact, as documented by EMDS’s pre-election observation report in September 2015, “No significant actions were undertaken to democratise the political conditions to hold free and fair elections since the last presidential elections.”

We fear that the monitoring of the election, with only PACE observing on the ground, could play into the hands of Azerbaijan’s “election day democracy,” in which elections take place but civil society is not given space to inform and engage the public before the election, or hold the government to account after the election. HRHN continues to speak out against Azerbaijan’s election day democracy, as well as its cycle of repression between elections.

The electoral process is not limited to election day; it must include the periods preceding and following the elections, and these periods must also be monitored. In order to remain credible, we urge PACE to consider the wider cycle of repression in Azerbaijan when monitoring the election, and to ensure, even without ODIHR’s organisational and methodological support, that it remains fully independent and avoids any form of government control or restriction.

The ongoing political crackdown and climate of repression in Azerbaijan, and the restrictions on monitoring leading to ODIHR’s withdrawal, are both clear signals that Azerbaijan’s election will not be free and fair. We hope that PACE shoulders the responsibility as the only mission to observe the election, and reports the full picture, not just a controlled snapshot of election day.

The freeing of the detained human rights defenders and journalists arrested before and in the aftermath of the presidential election of 2013, is an essential condition for any election to be free and fair in Azerbaijan.

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