Opposition activist loses litigation on registration for Azerbaijani parliamentary elections

The court has upheld the Central Election Commission (CEC), which cancelled the registration of Zaur Gurbanly, a member of the "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Party, as a candidate for parliament of Azerbaijan.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 5, 2019, President of Azerbaijan signed a decree on dissolution of the parliament. Elections were scheduled for February 9, 2020. The ReAl has nominated 60 candidates; three of them – the party leader, Ilgar Mamedov, as well as Rasul Djafarov and Zaur Gurbanly – faced problems at registration because of their previous criminal records. However, their convictions were recognized as unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

On January 2, the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) considered the complaint lodged by Zaur Gurbanly, who was denied registration by the Constituency Election Commission for participating in the parliamentary elections. The BCA upheld the Commission's decision.

Ramiz Ibragimov, the CEC spokesperson, said in court that if the plenary session of the Supreme Court (SC) removes the criminal record from Gurbanly, the CEC may reconsider the issue. "The incorrect coordination of actions among state bodies is not my fault; it's the fault of the state," Mr Gurbanly has objected; he intends to lodge a cassation complaint to the SC, the Azerbaijani "Turan" News Agency has reported today.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 3, 2020 at 02:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.