Azerbaijan: hunger strike against election frauds stopped

After the creation of an opposition coalition against election frauds, Elman Guliev and Elshad Israfil, candidates for MPs from the "Musavat" Party, decided to stop their hunger strike.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the early parliamentary elections were held in Azerbaijan on February 9, and the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced the victory of the ruling "New Azerbaijan Party". Activists reported massive violations and falsifications committed during the elections. On February 27, Elman Guliev went on a hunger strike with the demand to cancel the election results. On the other day, Elshad Israfil joined Elman Guliev. By March 3, their health condition worsened. The board of the "Musavat" Party called on the young men not to further sacrifice their health and stop the hunger strike, which had already attracted the society's attention.

Both activists stopped their hunger strike on March 3 at about 5 p.m., Mustafa Gadjibeili, the head of the press service of the "Musavat" Party, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "The Elman's and Elshad's hunger strike seemed to give an impetus to other MP candidates in consolidating their efforts against the falsified parliamentary elections. Today, the office of the "Musavat' Party hosted a meeting of more than 70 MP candidates. A short statement was announced therein on behalf of over 200 candidates saying that they refuse to adopt the outcomes of the early parliamentary elections "because of the total falsification thereof, and demand to appoint new elections," Mr Gadjibeili said.

According to his story, the 70 MP candidates, who rook part in the meeting, namely, members of the "Musavat" and "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Parties, the D18 movement, the "Movement" bloc, and independent candidates, decided to set up the Coalition against Election Frauds.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 3, 2020 at 07:21 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.