There is no effective legal protection of electoral rights in Azerbaijan

October 9 presidential elections , like the previous election campaign in Azerbaijan revealed absence  of effective legal means to investigate complaints on violations of the law and restoration the violated rights of citizens, said Hafiz Hasanov, the head of the NGO "Law and Development", representing  on December 12 a final report on the results of monitoring the protection of electoral rights  and complaints on violations of the law during the presidential election on October 9.

Monitoring was conducted in the framework of the project "Legal protection of election participants", realized with the support of the German Marshall Fund of the American , the U.S. Embassy, and the OSCE Baku office .

According to the lawyer of NGO "Law and Development" Azer Gasimov, 28 educational events wee carried  out  in the frameworks of the project  20 regions of the country , which involved two thousand participants in the electoral process - voters , observers , proxies , members of election commissions , as well as activists NGOs and media representatives.

Enlightening website was created www.electionrights.az.

Besides, in Baku and eight regions were created free legal aid centers of which provided consultations for about 600 participants in the electoral process, 127 applications were made to represent the electoral commission. Another 43 applications were compiled for submission to the courts. In 14 cases, interests of the applicants were protected in the appellate courts and the Supreme Court.

In these cases, it is assumed to give two appeals to the Constitutional Court, two to the European Court of Human Rights, and four more to the UN Committee on Human Rights. In some cases, the NGO "Law and Development" self initiated litigation.

The NGOs challenged in court the legality of the regulation of the CEC to conduct exit-poll, which have not been put forward in the Electoral Code additional requirements for organizations wishing to conduct such surveys. Subsequent denial of accreditation to conduct exit-poll NGO "Legal enlightenment of Sumgait Youth" confirmed that the concerns about the use of regulation to restrictive CEC were accepted.

However, first the courts rejected the claim of NGO "Law and Development" regarding the illegality of CEC instructions, and then the claim of the Sumgait NGOs on ungrounded refusal of accreditation.

Another flagrant violation of the law Hasanov called the "strict warning" by CEC to the candidate of the National Council, Jamil Hasanli, incident during a televised debate.

Even did not if we assume that Hasanli violated the law, there is not such measure a "strict warning."

"On this issue, we plan to bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights, but the Strasbourg Court does not consider treatment. However, we raise the question of violation of freedom of expression, because Jamil Hasanli was punished for criticizing President Ilham Aliyev," said Hasanov. According to him, the courts have formally considered complaints of Hasanli about the election results. He reminded that during the consideration of the complaint of  Hasanli in the CEC his representative Gulaga Aslanli was detained by police.

In the case Hasanli and three other candidates who were denied registered, Ahmed Oruj,  Ali Aliyev, and  Fuad Aliyev will complaint to the UN Committee on Human Rights. Expert Hasanov also noted that violators of civil rights were not brought to justice, despite the presence of 26 Articles in  the Code of Administrative Offences.

Head of the monitoring of elections and democracy training (TSMVOD ) Anar Mammadov expressed the need for the country and abroad stigmatization campaign structures and those responsible for violations of electoral rights of citizens.

The European Court of Human Rights adopted 20 decisions on violations of CEC headed by Mazahir Panahov the electoral rights of citizens. It is not possible to trust such authority. Mazahir Panahov’s way to the international arena should be blocked," said Mammadov.

The monitoring were made ​​recommendations on simplification complaints procedures for elections, the abolition of grievance procedures expert groups under the CEC and the creation of an independent fact-finding team.  

It is also proposed to toughen sanctions for violations of electoral rights, the establishment of a mechanism for expeditious consideration of complaints by the courts.

It is also proposed to specify rules on cases  of recognizing the election invalid, and elimination  of  confirmation the approval of election results by the Constitutional Court. -06C—