Azerbaijan elections: Council of Europe cannot sweep violations away

Wednesday, Human Rights House Foundation has expressed in a joint call to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe their dismay of the Assembly's findings in regard to the Presidential election in Azerbaijan.

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 and fair, not taking into account the situation in the country ahead of the election.

The credibility of the knowledge more weakened

In their letter , 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 smart phone 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.

Based on contradicted, weak and doubtful findings of the PACE observation mission, will PACE consider the 2013 Presidential election as the first free and fair election Azerbaijan has known?

PACE is to first discuss the findings of its observation mission at its Standing Committee meeting in Vienna on 22 November 2013 and will discuss the Presidential election in Azerbaijan again at its plenary session in Strasbourg in January 2014.

* The Human Rights House Network (HRHN) unites 90 human rights NGOs joining forces in independent Human Rights Houses in 13 countries in Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, East and Horn of Africa, and Western Europe. HRHN's aim is to protect, empower and support human rights defenders and their organisations locally and unite them in an international network of Human Rights Houses. -0-