The pre-election OSCE ODIHR mission on the election situation in Azerbaijan

Pre-election assessment mission ODIHR OSCE, visited Baku on 17-21 June, and  announced  its conclusion.

The mission included Richard Lappin, OSCE/ODIHR Senior Election Adviser, Raul Mureşan, OSCE/ODIHR Election Adviser, and Radivoje Grujić, OSCE/ODIHR Election Adviser. 

The delegation met with officials and election administration, as well as with representatives of political parties, the media, civil society and international organizations.

The report focuses on the electoral system of the country and noted that the members of the CEC are appointed three equal installments parliamentary majority, minority and independent MPs who "usually support the ruling party."

According to similar scheme are appointed 125 district and 5,300 Precinct Election Commissions. All chairmen of election commissions are appointed by the parliamentary majority.

Some members of the mission said that such a formula gives pro-government forces control over all commissions, undermines confidence in the impartiality of the electoral commissions.

The analysis of the electoral law noted that as a  result of amendments taken in recent years,  the candidates have  lost the  government funding and campaigning  was reduced to 23 days.

The amendments to the Constitution in 2009 allowed the  president to run for a third term. The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe regarded this as a step "back from democracy." 

 Attention  is paid also to the differences in the figures on the list of voters. According to the CEC, currently there are  about 4.9 million voters, what significantly different from the data of State Statistics Committee  about 6,400,000 voters. Each potential candidate must submit 40,000 signatures.

Several members of the mission said that they  face serious problems in the implementation of the fundamental freedoms in the pre-election period. In particular,  the ability of political parties and citizens to freely express political views because of restrictions on freedom of assembly and association was restricted. Several parties reported problems in providing offices and meeting venues.

One opposition candidate has been in prison since the beginning of 2013 (Ilgar Mamedov) ,and another opposition leader (Ali Kerimli) can not go abroad since 2005, because he is  not given a passport.

Despite the existence of several television channels, citizens' access to different political views is limited, and the circulation of the print media is limited. Lawsuits for defamation and other charges, will not allow journalists to work freely and express opinions.

On June 4, 2013 criminal penalties for defamation was also disseminated on the Internet.

The law provides for a total of six hours of free air time on public television, which will be divided equally among the registered candidates.

Several national organizations are planning to hold a long-term monitoring activity. However, Election Monitoring and Democratic Studies Center (EMDS), which plans to conduct a parallel vote count, has not been registered yet.

Election Commission recommends  to send in  addition to the main group of the ODIHR,  another 30 long-term observers and 280 short-term observers from OSCE countries. -06D-