Municipal elections show no progress in electoral practice, expert

Baku / 24.12.19 / Turan: The current municipal elections, like the previous ones, were accompanied by numerous violations of the law, said in an interview with Voice of America  the head of the Institute of Civil Rights NGO, Bashir Suleymanli.

According to him, the elections did not comply not only with international standards, but also with local legislation.

As before, the most common types of violations were roundabouts, ballot box stuffing, pressure on observers.

The “novelty” in falsification technologies was the mass involvement of parents of secondary school students in the “carousel”.

Teachers called their parents to the polls regardless of where they are registered.

At the end of the election, the protocols were distorted in order to falsify the results.

Suleimanli noted that the lack of progress in electoral practice does not give optimism regarding the February 9 parliamentary elections.

Falsification of the results of municipal elections can cause disappointment of citizens and discourage parties, activists, and ordinary citizens from participating in parliamentary elections.

Suleimanli believes that it will be possible to restore citizens' confidence in the elections if the fraud in the municipal elections is investigated, the results in the polling stations and districts where the violations were canceled. –16D06-