U.S. calls on Azerbaijan to offer an unrestricted invitation for ODIHR to observe election

Washington 'regrets' that ODIHR will not be observing parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan on November 1, Daniel Baer, U.S. Ambassador to OSCE, stated on Friday, as TURAN's Washington correspondent was informed.

In his response to Azerbaijan on OSCE Election Observation Commitments, Baer reminded that in a September 1 press statement, Azerbaijan called ODIHR’s intention to deploy 30 long-term and 300 short-term observers “excessive” for November 1 parliamentary election.

The statement said that Azerbaijan was “ready to welcome” only six long-term and up to 125 short-term observers.

'This is incompatible with Azerbaijan’s commitment to recognize ODIHR’s independence in carrying out election observation,' he said.

'We regret that ODIHR was compelled to cancel its election observation mission to Azerbaijan because of the government’s insistence on limiting the number of observers, but we support ODIHR’s decision and reaffirm the independence of this key OSCE institution,' he added.

Washington hopes that Azerbaijan 'will, in the OSCE’s spirit of dialogue among participating States, reconsider its position and immediately offer an unrestricted invitation for ODIHR and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to observe its November 1 parliamentary elections.'

A.Raufoglu

Washington, D.C.