Paper claims ruling party lost Azeri elections, authorities seek solution

Text of Khagan report by Azerbaijani newspaper 'Sharg' p8, entitled "Secret conference in the White House"

[Subhead] It has been clarified that Musavat won 44 per cent of votes and the [ruling] New Azerbaijan Party [NAP] - 21 per cent

There is nothing secret in Azerbaijan. Although this might not seem to be the case, it is probably true. Even when a secret conference is held in the president's office, tomorrow the whole country is talking about it. The outcome of the [parliamentary] elections had to be resolved in a secret way, too. But it was not. Everyone in Azerbaijan, children included, knows about the electoral fraud.

Only one thing is secret now, namely the correct number of votes collected by the parties. For the time being nobody knows this precisely. The NAP, Musavat, the Party for National Independence of Azerbaijan [PNIA], the People's Front of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP] and the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan [DPA] are putting forward versions advantageous to them. But rumours suggest that the secret conference in the [Presidential] Executive Staff revealed the correct number of votes collected by each party. The person who reported to the country's ruler announced the following figures: Musavat - 44 per cent, NAP - 21 per cent, PNIA - 13 per cent, PFAP ("Yurd" [reformist wing]) - seven per cent, the Liberal Party of Azerbaijan - six per cent and the DPA - six per cent. After this, this person advised giving four seats to Musavat and the PNIA along with the PFAP. But this proposal was not accepted. Representatives of the authorities considered that it would be possible to give parliamentary seats only to the Civic Solidarity Party [CSP] and the Communist Party of Azerbaijan [CPA]. Their view was that it is not now realistic for other political organizations to receive a mandate. At present the votes of the CSP and CPA are being increased at precincts, and this demonstrates that there is a major opportunity to implement such a scenario. The CSP and CPA still have a chance to obtain a mandate.

Source: 'Sharg', Baku, in Azeri 12 Nov 00 p 8

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Posted November 14, 2000 © Eurasianet
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