Azerbaijan creates online resource for public control over presidential election

Today, in Baku, the presentation of the online project "Election Portal" was held. The project was created for the purpose of public control over the presidential election in Azerbaijan.

Let us remind you that the project "Election Portal" is being implemented by two local NGOs the "Centre for Monitoring Elections and Democracy Training" (CMEDT) and the Democratic School of Journalism (DSJ) with financial support from USAID (US Agency for International Development).

The authors claim that their project does not support any political party or group. Rovshan Gadjibeili, the leader of the DSJ, states that the "Election Portal" (seckiportali.info, seckiportali.az, seckiportali.org) will accumulate all the information coming from the citizens about violations of the law committed during the pre-election campaign and the election itself. The "Election Portal" operates in Azerbaijani and English languages.

The information will be sent to the "Election Portal" via SMS-messages and e-mail. Citizens can also send photos and videos, revealing violations of the law.

The "Musavat" Party also intends to create an online resource reporting on violations committed during election. This was announced by Gyulaga Aslanly, the deputy head of the "Musavat" Party.

In his turn, human rights activist Vidadi Iskenderov, the leader of the NGO "Enhancing Protection of Democracy", expressed his scepticism about those online resources.

"We need not only to reveal violations of the law, but also massive civil resistance against falsifications. Without it, all sorts of monitoring and online recording of fraud lose all meaning," Vidadi Iskenderov believes.