IDI: Pre-election Campaign Accompanied by Intervention of Local Authorities

On the evening of October 30 the NGO Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI) published its second interim report on the monitoring of the parliamentary elections. It covers the period of October 10 - October 28 - the stage of the election campaign. As noted in the document, the process of campaigning for parliamentary elections was followed by the intervention of local authorities, pressure on opposition candidates, use of administrative resources, and violation of the principle of equality.

However, the report indicated that 479 candidates for deputies in a very short period after the registration of candidates withdrew from the elections and, as a result, the ballot included the names of 767 candidates. It is noteworthy that in the 2010 elections 41 people withdrew their candidacies after registration.

The study's authors point out that most of those who withdrew from the election are employees of institutions financed from the state budget. Presumably they were put forward with the aim to crush smaller airtime for candidates in public television and to minimize the statements by the opposition. When the decision was made not to give airtime to pre-election campaign, there was no longer need for these candidates and they massively withdrew from the elections.

Reducing the campaigning to three weeks severely limited the ability of candidates to campaign.

The National Council of Democratic Forces, which represents a significant part of the opposition, does not take part in the elections. No normal conditions were created for the party Musavat, the movement ReAl and others, which led to a "dull election campaign", say the authors of the study.

Long-term observers of IDI in 87 electoral districts have recorded different kinds of violations during the election campaign.

So they marked facts of abuse using the administrative and financial resources.

In particular, students of universities in Ganja from Constituencies No 37 and No 38 were brought to meetings with the candidate of the ruling party New Azerbaijan from the 42^nd Kapaz district, Musa Guliyev.

Roads in the villages Turkedi, Arabkhana and Chartiyaz were covered with gravel on behalf of the candidate from 65^th Saatli-Sabirabad-Kurdamir constituency Ahliman Amiraslanov.

They also point to the organization of meetings for candidates by local executive authorities and municipalities. Thus, in the 77^th district of Astara meetings with voters of the candidate from NAP Rashad Mahmudov (a department chief in the Oilmen Hospital) in the villages Pelikash and Kizhaba were organized respectively by the heads of the local municipality and executive authorities.

There were also cases of the use of propaganda materials by candidates from the New Azerbaijan Party and other pro-government forces through employees of state-run institutions.

Another common violation was the annihilation of the posters of the opposition candidates and others not supported by the power.

Regarding the registration of local observers, it is reported that the CEC has registered as such 2,619 local observers and district electoral commissions have registered 63,000.

At the same time away from the electoral process remained the largest monitoring organization - Election Monitoring and Democracy Training Center, whose leader Anar Mammadli after the presidential election in 2013 was arrested and convicted on charges of committing serious economic crimes.

 It also indicates the absence of observers from influential international organizations - the OSCE ODIHR, the European Parliament, and the European Commission.

As a result, the CEC accredited 501 international observers from more than 40 organizations, most of which are unknown to the general public.

Four companies were registered to conduct exit-polls, but the public opinion has doubts about their objectivity.

The document also put forward recommendations. It is proposed to increase attention to the calls of the international organizations on improving election practices. In order to create an atmosphere of dialogue in society, it is important to release political prisoners, investigate all cases of violations of the electoral rights of citizens and punish the perpetrators, to create normal conditions for observers on the voting day and to provide correct execution of the law by the members of election commissions.

The government has to demonstrate the will to suppress the interference of local executive authorities in the process of voting and counting on the voting day, according to the conclusion of the report.

* IDI was established in 2013 by a group of independent lawyers. The structure is headed by a member of the CEC, the appointee of the party Umid Akif Gurbanov. The Ministry of Justice has refused to register IDI. -06D-