OSCE observers criticize presidential election in Azerbaijan

During the presidential election in Azerbaijan, there were cases when public sector employees had been forced to participate in actions of the pre-election campaign. Violations committed on the day of voting on April 11 require an investigation, states the final report prepared by the election observation mission (EOM) of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the early presidential election was held in Azerbaijan on April 11. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the country, 86.02% of voters gave their voices to Ilham Aliev.

On July 18, the OSCE ODIHR published its final report on the work of its election observation mission at the presidential election in Azerbaijan.

The OSCE election observation mission has called on the authorities of the country to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the violations committed during the voting day. The investigation should be focused on records from video cameras at polling stations, if available, lists of voters, and invalidated ballots, the report says.

Observers also identified the cases when public sector employees were forced by officials or the police to participate in actions of the pre-election campaign.

Anar Mamedli, the head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS), has called the OSCE ODIHR final report objective and reflecting the actual picture.

"The report reflects all issues of concern for civil society. The recommendations are also correct. However, the problem is that the ODIHR does not have levers to enforce the recommendations. The ODIHR is in fact an expert institution. To remedy the situation, there should be a consolidated position of Western democratic institutions and states," Anar Mamedli told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 19, 2018 at 06:04 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.