PACE was not invited to the elections. What are the reasons?

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has not been invited to observe the parliamentary elections scheduled in Azerbaijan for September 1.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Aykhan Hacizade, stated that invitations have been sent to seven international organizations: the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, GUAM, the Non-Aligned Movement Youth Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Organization of Turkic States.

However, there has been no official explanation yet for why PACE has not received an invitation.

No invitation was extended to PACE for the snap presidential elections held in Azerbaijan earlier this year either. This year has seen some tension between PACE and Azerbaijan. During the January session of the assembly, Azerbaijan's delegation was denied voting rights due to alleged issues with cooperation and non-compliance with human rights commitments.

Azerbaijan rejected these criticisms and decided to suspend its participation in PACE indefinitely.

Fazail Agamali, a deputy from the VI convocation of the National Assembly and leader of the "Motherland" Party, told Turan that the reasons for not inviting PACE are clear: "After Azerbaijan defeated the separatist junta regime in the 44-day war and the special anti-terror operation last September, the Council of Europe and most of its member countries showed a biased stance against Azerbaijan. They could not accept Azerbaijan's victory."

Agamali believes that PACE did not accept the mandate of Azerbaijan's delegation on absurd grounds without any justification: "In response, Azerbaijan, as a responsible and serious state, had to take appropriate measures. Since then, there has been no communication between the Council of Europe and Azerbaijan."

He noted that, like with the presidential elections, PACE has no moral right or basis to observe the parliamentary elections: "They are a Christian club that does not abandon its biased stance. Even if there are no negative issues in Azerbaijan, they will try to present it to the world public with a certain pathos in their statements."

According to the deputy, there is currently no contact between the Council of Europe and Azerbaijan: "As long as the Council of Europe does not abandon its unfair and biased stance towards Azerbaijan, any normal relationship with this institution is simply impossible."

Azer Qasimli, head of the Political Management Institute, told Radio Azadliq that PACE's non-invitation could be due to two reasons: "Relations between PACE and Azerbaijan are not good. They also understand that there is no election process currently taking place in the country. Therefore, they do not want anyone coming here to express opinions or criticize. Knowing that relations with PACE are strained, they anticipate that the feedback would be very radical. Thus, they do not allow PACE's mission here."

Political analyst believes that the non-invitation of the mission will negatively impact future relations: "It seems that these relations will remain this way for a long time. Logically, if the mission does not participate in these parliamentary elections, PACE should not consider the elections legitimate. If they do not consider them legitimate, they should also reject the mandate of the new parliament's delegation at PACE's winter session next year."

He thinks Azerbaijan would prefer to have PACE accept its delegation's mandate under the same conditions: "But now there is an issue of legitimacy. Either PACE needs to withdraw, or the Azerbaijani government does. There is no other way."