The attack on civil society on the eve of the elections continues

On February 6, two pro-government websites, APA and Yeni Musavat, published "revealing" articles against Anar Mammadli, head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy  Studies Center. The articles  say that this Center has received 150,000 manats for the "anti-PR" of the early presidential elections. An "informed" source told these media outlets that part of this money is intended to train observer groups, train them and send them to various regions. The bulk of the funds will be used to commit various violations by specially trained persons on election day, fixing it on video and distributing it to a wide audience on social networks, the articles claim.

It is also reported that the Anar Mammadli Center is not registered with the Ministry of Justice, but has funds to rent an office and pay employees. It is also said that the Center has been operating since 2001 and its reports on all elections noted that the elections did not meet international standards.    The Center's projects were funded by USAID, the National Institute for Democracy (NDI), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Marshall Fund and the U.S. Embassy.

These publications became the third wave of discrediting of independent and opposition media and NGOs in Azerbaijan, conducted by the authorities since November 2023, when the arrests of journalists from “AbzasMedia” and a number of other media outlets in the country began.

  At both articles there is no position of Anar Mammadli.