Parliamentary Elections and the Crisis Between Azerbaijan and PACE...

Azerbaijan has completed another election. The snap parliamentary elections, held on September 1, are now behind us. This was the second snap election held within a year. Earlier, in February, snap presidential elections took place.

According to preliminary results announced by the Central Election Commission (CEC), the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) secured 54.4% of the parliamentary mandates, maintaining its dominance in parliament.

The elections were observed by 60 deputies from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and 300 members of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) monitoring mission.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was not invited to observe the snap elections. Azerbaijan also did not invite the PACE delegation to monitor the snap presidential elections held in February of this year. One of the reasons for this refusal was the suspension of Azerbaijan’s delegation’s powers in PACE for one year.

Recently, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated that the deputies who voted against Azerbaijan’s delegation in PACE had been added to a list of undesirable persons.

Last week, during a visit to Italy, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke about the country’s strained relations with PACE, stating that the ban on visits by some members of PACE to Azerbaijan would be lifted once Azerbaijan’s delegation returned to the assembly: “If they change their decision and restore our rights, then this so-called embargo will also be lifted.”

Can the mandate of the new Azerbaijani delegation to PACE be confirmed after the elections?

Bashir Suleymanli, head of the Citizens' Rights Institute, answered ASTNA’s questions on the matter.

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Question: Mr. Bashir, the snap parliamentary elections are over, and the leading candidates have been announced. Was there any significant change in the composition of the parliament this time?

Answer: If I am not mistaken, 26 people from the previous composition are no longer part of the new parliament. Some of them were replaced by individuals who had either previously served in parliament or were part of the political team. Another group is entirely new. However, this does not change the realities. The main point is that there should be representation and pluralism in parliament. The interests of citizens and voters should be safeguarded. The country’s major issues should become the subject of discussion. Parliament should not merely engage in technical discussions and approval of laws sent from the administration. I recall that before the 2020 elections, there were messages that current deputies should be elected based on the real votes of the voters. The political power was not interested in ensuring that their names were drawn from the ballot box on their behalf. During that time, deputies toured the election areas, hugged elderly people, and kissed their hands. When this election started, some people remembered this spectacle from the previous time. However, as you may have noticed, this did not happen in this election. We only saw a few meetings between candidates (supported by the government) and their voters, based on sincere relationships. It means that the approach has changed. In other words, there was no need for massive public support this time.

Question: What are the expectations from the new parliament?

Answer: This depends more on the will of the political power. Because when we look at the functioning of the parliaments formed after previous elections, it is evident that they have mostly acted in line with the political interests of the ruling power. However, citizens and voters have different expectations. They are more interested in reforms, the adoption of laws that protect citizens' interests, and positive changes in political, economic, and social directions. In particular, voters are more concerned about changes in the socio-economic sphere, the creation of new jobs, and the adoption of new programs in education and healthcare. This is an area that worries all citizens across the country. The worsening economic situation is causing despair among citizens. There is a need for systematic and real programs in the field of agriculture. To prevent the urbanization and migration of citizens to cities, wide-ranging discussions with the participation of experts should be held in parliament, and documents that can contribute should be prepared. The powers of municipalities should be expanded. Starting from 20 years ago, when civil society conducted analyses and made reports and proposals on problems, no one listened to us. When independent media highlighted problems, they were pressured. We wanted to build the capacity of local communities, raise citizens' awareness, and encourage them to operate within their rights. Due to the failure to take action at the time, even the steps taken in education and social directions today are not yielding results but are creating serious discontent.

Question: The International Observation Mission representing OSCE ODIHR and the OSCE PA stated that the elections were held in a restrictive environment and lacked competition. It was emphasized that the current conditions do not allow for the conclusion that the elections were conducted according to democratic standards. Local observers also documented many violations. However, despite the CEC promising to investigate, no district results have been canceled except for a few precincts. Given this situation, what was the point of the observation process?

Answer: Here, the political will plays a more important role than the CEC’s decision. They can only take technical steps at best, within the limits of their will. To annul the results of any electoral district, they must receive a message from the political administration organizing the elections. I think the CEC is simply working to defuse the tension, prolonging the process to calm the nerves. As of September 11, the results of two precincts in the 78th Lankaran Village Electoral District have been declared invalid. Additionally, the results must be confirmed by the Constitutional Court after the CEC. This is the final instance. It is possible that the Constitutional Court may reject or annul some results. If the CEC were to annul them, it could have done so by now. Enough time has passed, and according to information from alternative candidates in some districts, they have submitted serious evidence to the CEC. But there has been no change for 10 days.

As for the observation process, it is a commitment of these countries. Azerbaijan, as a member country of the OSCE and the Council of Europe, has obligations to hold free, fair, and transparent elections. Therefore, OSCE ODIHR, the OSCE PA, and PACE should be invited to monitor elections to oversee the fulfillment of member states’ obligations. The importance of observing the electoral process at the level of international legal instruments was enshrined in the 1990 OSCE “Copenhagen Document of the Conference on the Human Dimension.” According to Paragraph 8 of this document, participating states believe that the participation of both national and foreign observers can enhance the credibility of the electoral process for the state conducting the elections.

Question: As long as the election practice in the country does not change, the opinion of OSCE ODIHR remains the same. The practice does not change, the election is held in the same manner, and OSCE ODIHR comes and goes each time. If this continues and nothing changes, if OSCE’s reports are ignored, what is the point of these opinions and reports?

Answer: OSCE does not only observe the elections and prepare reports. At the end of the reports, they give recommendations on addressing the issues. They offer to work with countries to resolve the problems. Unfortunately, these recommendations have not been implemented for a long time. All this does not mean that these documents are useless. This leads to the weakening of these countries’ reputations on the international stage, making them frequent targets of criticism. These reports are crucial when assessing countries' compliance with their obligations. Without this observation process and reports, it would be impossible to evaluate the fulfillment of obligations. OSCE, as a professional institution, takes its work seriously. On the other hand, during discussions of proposals, problems should be examined, and solutions should be presented. The reasons behind the problems should be analyzed. Suppose formal representation in election commissions or the bringing of voters in groups are observed without addressing these issues; how can they be eliminated in the future?! It is true that we have not seen any significant results from these reports yet. However, I am confident that these reports will have positive outcomes in the future.

Question: The mandate of the Azerbaijani delegation in PACE was not confirmed. Do you think the mandate of the Azerbaijani delegation consisting of new parliament deputies can be restored in PACE?

Answer: This is mostly related to the crisis between Azerbaijan and PACE. If serious steps are taken in at least one of the problems raised by PACE, I think the mandate of the new delegation in PACE can be confirmed. The main issue here is not the falsification of elections. Previous elections were also accompanied by serious violations. However, the delegations were confirmed. This time, the political crisis is more related to human rights. Despite numerous decisions by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the case of the “Mammadli Group” was not resolved positively. On the contrary, the representative of that group, Anar Mammadli, was imprisoned. Additionally, media leaders such as AbzasMedia and Toplum TV were targeted. Moreover, PACE was not invited to observe both the snap presidential elections in February and the snap parliamentary elections. All of this only added fuel to the fire. It is true that the Azerbaijani government justifies PACE’s decision by pointing to the liberation of Karabakh, particularly the capture of Khankendi. However, we cannot discard all provisions and base our stance on one. If national interests are prioritized, Azerbaijan should not be excluded from representation in the Council of Europe. I hope that the Azerbaijani political authorities will take positive steps in this direction by the January session of PACE.