Parliamentary elections held in atmosphere of total falsification –“ Platform III of the Republic”

“Platform III of the Republic” distributed a “Position Paper” on 4 September, where it provided an assessment of the early Parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan on 1 September.

It notes that the pre-election environment was unfair and not free, and the voting itself took place in an atmosphere of total falsifications.

“The voting day was accompanied by traditional violations. Observers were obstructed at many polling stations. Members of precinct election commissions openly contributed to falsifications. Thus, there were ballot stuffing, creation of obstacles to observers and journalists, admission to voting without checking identity cards, facts of “carousels”, the document says.

Despite the difficulties and obstacles, many young people participated in the elections as observers and tried to record violations.

According to the announced election results, the Parliament will again be dominated by the “Yeni Azerbaijan Party” and formally there will be “independent” deputies, while the minority will be made up of satellite parties of the same government Party.”

“This demonstrates once again that the Aliyev government does not have the political will to hold free and fair elections. The currently announced composition of the Parliament is practically identical to the previous one. It also shows that the claim that the Aliyev government intends to “carry out reforms from above” is nothing more than words, the document says.

In view of the above, “Platform III of the Republic” believes that the public opinion formed during the Second Karabakh War about “consolidation around Ilham Aliyev” no longer exists’ and “the people no longer trust the head of state”.

By low turnout at the elections, the population demonstrated low trust in the authorities. The country has a difficult socio-economic situation, which affects political life. The problems can be solved only through systemic and structural economic reforms, respect for human rights and democratic norms. However, these Parliamentary elections have shown that the government lacks the vision and will to carry out such reforms. On the contrary, by increasing political repression, the authorities are driving the existing problems even deeper.

*”Platform III Republic” was established in December 2023 by a group of social activists and favors a reasonable balance between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. Members of the “Platform” planned to actively participate in the political life of the country as a political organization. However, in March 2024, the authorities arrested two leading figures of this organization, Akif Gurbanov and Ruslan Izzatli, accusing them of illegal financing from abroad.