National Council: Government Preparing to Rig Presidential Election in 2018

The National Council will not recognize the results of parliamentary elections on November 1 because they do not express the will of the population, according to the NCDF statement.

The authors of the statement believe that such an important political campaign, as the parliamentary election, is more formal. There are no conditions for elections, the campaign does not include free competition or televised debates. For this reason, there is no interest in the elections.

The National Council believes that the refusal of TV debates is preparation for the presidential elections in 2018, so that no debates would be conducted.

The National Council deplores the lack of any real steps for the release of political prisoners on the eve of the election and the authorities' refusal to accept a sufficient number of observers from ODIHR to monitor the elections on November 1st.

The authors of the statement also noted that about 500 of the 1,200 candidates were forced to withdraw their candidacies.

"Over the past 20 years it is the lowest index, so the decision taken by the National Council to boycott the elections was justified," the statement says. -16D04-