Opposition on Violations of Equality Principle in Election Campaigning

Baku / 27.01.20 / Turan: At the campaigning stage of the election campaign in the parliamentary elections, the principle of equality is not only not respected, but also seriously violated. This is the opinion of the head of the Musavat election headquarters Gulaga Aslanli.

For candidates from the authorities, meetings with voters are organized by government agencies. However, meetings of opposition candidates with voters are blocked, such as meetings of the Musavat leadership with voters in Bilasuvar and Jalilabad on January 26.

Musavat’s posters are deliberately torn off, but they’re not punishing anyone for this, he said.

The Executive Secretary of the REAL party, Natig Jafarli, in turn, pointed to the removal of television channels from campaigning. This is the first time this has happened. Parties are forced to campaign through social networks and in meetings with voters. Posters of candidates from the Union of Real Republicans are also torn off.

Meetings for power candidates use administrative resources.

“People brought to meetings with candidates at the expense of the administrative resource are often not voters in this constituency. Therefore, using this method is not effective,” Jafarli said.

The head of the Institute of Civic Initiatives, Bashir Suleymanli, believes there have been fewer violations of equality in the election campaign compared to the previous elections. However, there are violations. There are reports of bribery of voters in favor of candidates from the government. These candidates are involved in laying water pipes and roads where they are running. In some cases, candidates openly report this on social networks, which is a violation of the law, Suleymanli said.

In turn, the CEC Secretary Mikayil Rahimov said this body cannot fully control the observance of the principle of equality in election campaigning. If there are irregularities in some constituencies, then interested candidates may file complaints with the district election commissions and the CEC. According to him, so far no candidate has filed a complaint. —06D-