Major opposition party barred from full participation in Azeri elections

One of the leading Azerbaijani opposition parties, Musavat, has been barred from taking part in the parliamentary elections under the proportional representation system, Azerbaijan's Space TV reported on 18th September. The Central Electoral Commission concluded that the lists of signatures collected in support of Musavat's participation were invalid and therefore refused to register the party to stand in the proportional representation part of the elections. Musavat's own representative on the election commission said that it was physically impossible for the commission's two-member expert group to have checked over 56,000 signatures in support of Musavat in just two days. The party has begun an unauthorized picket outside the electoral commission to protest at the decision. The following are excerpts from the report on Azerbaijani Space TV

[Presenter] A problem has arisen with the signatures that the Musavat Party collected to run in the 5th November parliamentary elections. The Central Electoral Commission [CEC] has checked the signature lists of the Musavat Party's candidates under the proportional system. The CEC expert group claims that 7,120 of 56,051 signatures submitted by the party are forged. This means that only 48,931 of the collected signatures are valid. A working group of neutral members, set up by the CEC, has submitted its final opinion to the CEC. The opinion is not to register the Musavat Party for the parliamentary elections.

The Musavat Party's representative in the CEC, Vidadi Mahmudov, has told Space that Musavat will make a shocking statement in connection with the problem. In his opinion, it is inadmissible how the expert group was set up by the CEC. He said that it was physically impossible for the two-member group to check 56,051 signatures in two days. In any case, the final decision ought to have been taken at the CEC's four o'clock sitting today. The sitting which started at 1600 [1100 gmt] has not finished yet.

We tried to contact our reporter at the sitting, Narmina Alikhanbayli, by phone. Hello, Narmina  khanum [form of address]. Please tell us about the CEC's sitting today.

[Correspondent] Hello, Mehriban. The CEC sitting finished about a minute ago. The checking of the Musavat Party's signature collection lists under the proportional system was one of the two issues on the agenda. [Passage omitted: a detailed report about the CEC sitting.] The final decision has become known that the Musavat Party will not be able to run in the elections under the proportional system as its signature lists are considered invalid.

[Presenter] Thank you, Narmina khanum. To recap, Musavat Party officials firmly disagree with the CEC's decision. A press conference on the issue was held at the party's headquarters at 1500 [1000 gmt] today. The Musavat Party's members said that signatures collected for the party's most active functionaries had not been registered as the CEC had considered them forged. The Musavat members have not confined themselves to voicing their firm disagreement to the media.  They have made for the building of the CEC to carry out a protest action. Our reporter Mehman Mehdiyev is on the spot now. We will try to contact him by phone. Mehman.

[Correspondent] Hello, I can hear you.

[Presenter] Mehman, please tell us what is going on outside the CEC.

[Correspondent] Before reporting what is going on outside the CEC, I would like to recall the previous events. [Passage omitted: details about Musavat's press conference.]

After the press conference, the Musavat Party officials whose signature lists were considered forged gathered outside the CEC's headquarters. The protest action is going on here and they want to tell the CEC representatives that their signatures are not forged. As you probably know, the CEC has refused the Musavat Party registration as the majority of signatures turned out to be forged. The party's functionaries are here now to voice their protest, saying that their signatures are not forged. [Musavat Party Secretary] Arif Hajiyev told us that they would appeal to the embassies of the European Union member states in the country and representatives of international organizations over the problem. That's it for now. Mehriban.

[Presenter] Mehman, this action is not authorized. Is anyone impeding the action?

[Correspondent] Yes. There are police officers as well as Musavat Party members here. I would like to recall that prior to picketing the CEC, the Musavat Party officials did not appeal to any official body. The picket under way here was not authorized. No appeal was sent to the Baku city executive authority or other official agencies. Therefore, police have moved the Musavat Party members that gathered in front of the CEC away from the building. Now they have gathered in a nearby park. We will report how the events are developing in our next news bulletins. Mehriban.

[Presenter] Thank you, Mehman.

Source: Space TV, Baku, in Azeri 1200 gmt 18 Sep 00

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