OSCE/ODIHR representatives have meetings with political parties

Baku/19.12.23/Turan: Representatives of the Election Needs Assessment Mission of the OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Martina Barker-Chiganikova and Goran Petrov met on Tuesday with Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan Mazakhir Panakhov, Chairman of the Republican Alternative Party (REAL) Ilgar Mammadov and chairman of the member of the Popular Front Party (PNFA) Ali Kerimli.

REAL Chairman Ilgar Mammadov said on the Telegram channel that monitoring the Election Observation Mission is important. "The observation mission should arrive. If you don't come, people will be reluctant to vote, which will damage the preparations for the parliamentary elections that will take place in a few months. We want citizens to participate, study, at least know the addresses of their sites," he said.

According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), CEC Chairman Mazahir Panahov stressed that this institution attaches special importance to relations with prestigious international organizations and their institutions and is always open to cooperation. "The study of international experience has made an important contribution to the further improvement of electoral practice in Azerbaijan and raising it to the current level," he said.

Panahov spoke about the steps taken so that the upcoming elections would be prepared at a high level and held freely, fairly and transparently," the CEC information says. In turn, PFPA leader Ali Kerimli said that the pre-election situation was the subject of discussion at the meeting.  "I brought the current situation to their attention, expressed my opinion about political prisoners, repressions against the opposition, recently adopted laws “On political Parties,” “On the Media” and other restrictions," he said.

In such circumstances, there are no conditions in the country for holding free and fair elections. "Currently, all basic rights and freedoms are restricted in the country. A very repressive and frightening situation has been created. Over the past month alone, more than ten opposition figures and representatives of civil society have been arrested. There is a lot of pressure on journalists and representatives of the real opposition. 10 PFPA activists are political prisoners. Freedom of assembly has been banned for almost five years and the PFPA does not participate in the electoral process," he said.

Kerimli believes that the elections scheduled for February 7 will become an election show without competition, in which the government will cooperate only with its supporters. "We will boycott the elections," he stressed.-0-