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<\/a>A significant number of international observation missions registered for the recent Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan have violated international standards of election observation. According to an EPDE survey of the work of international election observation missions during the Parliamentary elections on November 1, 2015, in Azerbaijan, none of the 40 officially registered international missions conducted a long-term election observation in the country. Only two missions made their election observation methods a matter of public record. On Election Day, 24 international election observers expressed in the media positive assessments of the electoral process before the closure of voting precincts. Among them was the head of the PACE delegation, Jordi Xucla, and delegation member Augustin Conde.<\/p>\nBy conducting themselves in this way, the missions in question violated the central requirements of the United Nations \u201cDeclaration of Principles for International Election Observation,\u201d which state, in part, that an organization \u201c\u2026should not send an international election observation mission to a country under conditions that make it likely that its presence will be interpreted as giving legitimacy to a clearly undemocratic electoral process.\u201d Neither did the missions fulfill the Declaration\u2019s requirement that \u201cinternational election observation missions must be of sufficient size to determine independently and impartially the character of election processes in a country and must be of sufficient duration to determine the character of all of the critical elements of the election process in the pre-election, election-day and post-election periods\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
In October 2015, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) decided not to send an observation mission to Azerbaijan after Baku required that ODIHR\u2019s mission reduce its number of observers, which would have prevented ODIHR from conducting an UN-compliant election observation. The European Parliament also refrained from sending an official mission to Azerbaijan. PACE\u2019s disputed decision to send a short-term election observation mission, however, opened an opportunity for Azerbaijan authorities to claim international endorsement of the country\u2019s electoral process. The delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), lead by Jordi Xucl\u00e0 (Spain, ALDE), issued a statement on November 2, signed by 16 out of 28 delegation members, attesting that Azerbaijan\u2019s electoral process \u201c\u2026demonstrates another step forward taken by the Republic of Azerbaijan towards free, fair and democratic elections and that the results of this vote express the will of the Azerbaijani people.\u201d<\/p>\n
With reference to the mentioned violations of international standards of election observation, EPDE challenges this conclusion of the PACE EOM as ungrounded. EPDE draws attention to the votum separatum<\/a> signed by 3 members of the PACE delegation which contests the official positive PACE assessment and points out the failing preconditions to hold democratic elections in Azerbaijan due to the ongoing abuse of human rights in the country.<\/p>\n Apart from the PACE delegation, several members of parliaments worldwide made generally positive assessments of the election process in Azerbaijan, which have to be criticized as ungrounded and biased for the same reasons. The parliament members in question are:<\/p>\n Franz Obermayr, member of the European Parliament, Europe of Nations and Freedom Group, Austria (observed at 7 polling stations) http:\/\/ru.sputnik.az\/politics\/20151102\/402569912.html<\/a> EPDE calls on the European Parliament and the National Parliaments of Italy, Bulgaria, Austria, Israel, the UK, France, Latvia, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Australia to verify the impartiality of the respective deputies.<\/p>\n The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) is a network of citizens\u2019 election observation organizations throughout Europe. EPDE has been providing training and networking for independent citizens\u2019 election observers since 2012.<\/p>\n EPDE\u2019s partner organization in Azerbaijan, the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre, has been systematically hindered from conducting full-fledged election observation since the time of its critical reporting on the flawed Presidential elections in 2013. Since January 2014, Anar Mammadli, director of EMDS and board member of EPDE, has been imprisoned in Baku.<\/p>\n See the EPDE survey here: PDF (EN)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nSergio Divina, member of the Italian Parliament (Senat), Nord League (observed 8 polling stations) http:\/\/ru.sputnik.az\/azerbaijan\/20151102\/402570968.html<\/a>
\nMikhail Korb and Erki Savisaar, members of the Estonian Parliament (Estonian Center Party) http:\/\/www.1news.az\/politics\/20151102020655037.html<\/a>
\nThierry Mariani, member of the French National Assembly, head of the European People\u2019s Party group (EPP Group) http:\/\/www.azernews.az\/azerbaijan\/89342.html<\/a>
\nMichel Voisin, member of the French National Assembly and chairman of the France-Azerbaijan Friendship Group http:\/\/en.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451258.html<\/a>
\nDaniela Daritkova-Prodanova, head of the Bulgarian delegation, chairman of the Health Parliamentary Commission of Bulgaria http:\/\/topnews.az\/en\/news\/166457\/Parliamentary-election-in-Azerbaijan-held-at-high-level–Bulgarian-monitoring-mission.html<\/a>
\nKancho Filipov, Bulgarian MP, http:\/\/en.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451533.html<\/a>
\nPetar Kanev, Bulgarian MP, chairman of the Parliamentary Economic Policy and Tourism Committee http:\/\/en.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451451.html<\/a>
\nLord David Evans, member of British Parliament\u2019s House of Lords, http:\/\/news.az\/articles\/elections\/102388<\/a>
\nBaroness Detta O’Cathain, British Parliament\u2019s House of Lords, http:\/\/en.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451496.html<\/a>
\nRomans Naudins, MP and Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia (observed at 7 polling stations) http:\/\/www.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451324.html<\/a>
\nLuke Simpkins, Parliament of Australia, Liberal Party of Australia http:\/\/www.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451034.html<\/a>
\nAvigdor Lieberman, member of Knesset, \u201cIsrael Our Home\u201d party, http:\/\/en.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451483.html<\/a>
\nSofa Landver, member of Knesset, \u201cIsrael Our Home\u201c party (observed at four polling stations) http:\/\/en.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2450967.html<\/a>
\nNermina Kapetanovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, MP http:\/\/en.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451218.html<\/a>
\nSimeon Kedikoglou, member of the Greek parliament, PASOK http:\/\/en.trend.az\/azerbaijan\/election2015\/2451433.html<\/a>
\nVladimir Marinkovic, National Assembly Deputy Speaker, Serbia, http:\/\/en.apa.az\/print\/234408<\/a><\/p>\n