This Was Not Election, but Appointment of Members of Municipalities

Under the name of municipal elections the appointing of members of local self-government was carried out. Turan was told by Akif Gurbanov, head of the Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI), who monitored the elections.

According to him, during the election campaign the government and pro-government media did not create an atmosphere of fair elections.

Candidates who do not support the authorities were under pressure. Some were forced to withdraw their candidacies, while others were not registered or had their registration canceled.

According to Gurbanov, the current municipal elections were worse than the 2009 election.

Azerbaijan, in his opinion, does not comply with obligations under the European Charter of Local Self-Government and does not increase the status of municipalities.

On the one hand, the absence of real powers at the municipalities, and on the other the lack of an atmosphere of democratic elections predetermined the low voter turnout.

IDI conducted monitoring at 60 sites in 15 constituencies. Even after numerous "carousel" operations, in which certain people voted for others, the turnout did not exceed 20%. All of this is at odds with the official data of the CEC on the participation of 39% of voters in the election.

In addition, problems for observers were created at polling stations.

Gurbanov considers that such municipal elections are a message of the authorities that parliamentary elections of 2015 will be held in the same way. -06B-