OSCE Observation Mission promulgates its final report on presidential election in Azerbaijan

The final report of the Observant Mission of the Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE runs that at the presidential election in Azerbaijan on October 15, the conditions crucial for pluralistic democracy were not observed.

On Tuesday, December 16, the ODIHR of the OSCE has promulgated its final report on the monitoring outcomes of the presidential election of October 15, 2008, in Azerbaijan. The monitoring was conducted by the Observation Mission of the ODIHR of the OSCE consisting of 430 observers and headed by Boris Frlech, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia.

"In spite of the fact that the presidential election in Azerbaijan has demonstrated an essential progress towards meeting the country's liabilities before the OSCE, a number of technical aspects in managing the election failed to meet international standards," runs the document received by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent from the Baku OSCE office.

Although elections passed in peaceful atmosphere, in opinion of European observers, they were characterized "by poor competition, weak political debates and restrictions for the media."

The ODIHR of the OSCE regrets that a number of opposition parties refused to take part in the election under motives of "long-term barriers and absence of equal chances for all candidates."

The Electoral Code still has essential deficiencies, and the amendments made have embodied only some of the recommendations of the Venetian Commission of the Council of Europe, as the ODIHR of the OSCE remarks. The election itself caused little interest of the public and provided small room for political debate. At the same time, the voyages of the incumbent President received broad coverage by TV Channels. Executive structures were broadly engaged in the electoral process, and students and schoolchildren were forced into pre-election activities of the party in power.

"The Observation Mission of the ODIHR of the OSCE confirms the presence in the country of a hierarchical network of people from budget-funded organizations controllable by local authorities or electoral commissions and linked with the party in power. Presumably, this network was responsible for the increase of the voter turnout," the document emphasizes. The Mission remarks that some of the voters were under pressure, which broke their free suffrage.

The influential local NGO could not take part in the election monitoring (the Centre of Election Monitoring was deprived state registration a couple of months before the election, - comment of the "Caucasian Knot"), although it had dealt with the issue for many years, the observers mark. The voting and tabulation processes were not always transparent and timely, and certain observers of the Mission were prohibited to take part in the tabulation, the report runs.