Text of report from Azerbaijani newspaper 'Hurriyat' on 14th December by
Aggul Mammadova entitled "The PFAP and Musavat boycotted democracy"

[Subhead] Sardar Jalaloglu, general secretary of the Democratic Party of
Azerbaijan [DPA], thinks so

In the opinion of Sardar Jalaloglu, general secretary of the DPA, the
results of the municipal elections proved once again that the forces which
refused to be involved in electoral fraud by boycotting the elections were
not wrong in their assumptions: "It became known from the first report we
received on election day that boundless falsifications were admitted during
the elections." Saying that electoral commission members from the People's
Front of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP] and Musavat Party were not allowed into
polling stations in some areas, Sardar Jalaloglu stressed that ballot
papers were taken away in heaps in some districts, observers in polling
stations were even denied any protocols and lists of municipal members were
published in some newspapers before the elections, as was the case during
the 1995 parliamentary elections.

Jalaloglu expressed his regret that the PFAP and Musavat participated in
this game of falsifications: "This action by them could be regarded as the
biggest attempt at democratization in Azerbaijan. We boycotted the
elections and the democratic forces which stood in the elections boycotted
democracy." In the opinion of the DPA general secretary, the authorities
will use the participation of the PFAP and Musavat in the municipal
elections as an additional factor to rig the elections and will state that
they were democratic. Taking his personal observations as a basis,
Jalaloglu said that not 52 per cent, but 10 per cent of the population
turned out to vote. "This goes to show that the 'elected' municipalities
failed to gain people's support."

Source: 'Hurriyat', Baku, in Azeri 14 Dec 99 p5
BBC Mon TCU 141299/** sh/ek