SCE Gives Mixed Grade for Azerbaijani Election Preparations

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's first report on conditions in Azerbaijan in the run-up to the country's November 6 parliamentary elections promises to further debate over whether government bans on opposition rallies in downtown Baku violate voters' right to freedom of assembly.

The nine-page report, published on September 30, focused on events within Azerbaijan between September 5 and September 23, and did not include assessments of three recent unsanctioned demonstrations in the Azerbaijani capital which left scores wounded.

The report praised President Ilham Aliyev's May 11 decree that called for officials to provide conditions for a free and fair parliamentary vote, and warned them against tolerating voting irregularities. The decree ordered election officials to produce accurate and updated voter lists and make them available for all candidates, and to ensure all candidates have equal access to state media.

The report concluded that the decree has improved the overall campaign atmosphere, but noted that considerable problems still remain.

Although opposition rallies have been permitted throughout Azerbaijan, the report noted that they occur "under a heavy police presence." The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observation mission reported that local authorities "assume considerable discretion to restrict and prohibit rallies," although Azerbaijan's Law on Freedom of Assembly states that rally bans or restrictions "must be highly needed" or "a measure of last resort." To date, no court has overturned a decision to ban an opposition rally, the report added.

The report went on to state that Azerbaijani authorities have ignored OSCE recommendations for improving the legislative framework for the November 6 elections,
The Election Code has been amended six times mostly due to "technical reasons," the report argues, and does not address recommendations from the OSCE and the Council of Europe's Venice Commission for an equal representation of pro-government and opposition representatives on the Central Election Commission.

According to the report, the method for forming election commissions "ensures the pro-government parties a dominant position at all levels." The 15-member commission is made up of six representatives of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party, six from the opposition parties (three from parties with parliamentary representation, three from parties not represented in parliament), and three non-partisan members of parliament. The non-partisan members, however, frequently vote with the YAP representatives, leaving the opposition in a minority.

The report also took issue with the government's rejection of suggestions that voter's fingers be inked to avoid multiple, or "carousel," voting, a problem in both the 2003 presidential elections and last parliamentary elections in 2000. "The inking of voters' finger has not been considered as a mechanism for increasing public confidence in the election process by diminishing the risk of multiple voting."

The Azerbaijani government has dismissed the report's conclusions as misguided. Traveling in the Kurdamir region in the southwest of the country on October 6, President Aliyev stated that the Election Code and his May 11 decree provide sufficiently for free and fair elections.

Sayyad Aran, a member of the parliamentary Legal Policy and State Development Commission for the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party, echoed that position, saying that he does not agree with the complaints on restrictions of freedom of assembly.

"Both in the regions and in Baku, the opposition is always given permission to conduct rallies. Simply, they do not agree with the given place and insist on other places, which then become unsanctioned rallies," Aran said.

For its part, the Central Election Commission has rejected OSCE criticism of the election commissions' make-up, Natiq Mammadov, a CEC representative, stated that ruling party members do not hold the majority representation on election commissions. "Election commissions were formed equally from government, opposition and non-partisans," Mammadov said. As for the inking of voter's fingers, Mammadov stressed that the Election Code contains sufficient provisions to avoid multiple voting.

Criticism of the report was not limited to the government, however.
Isa Gambar, leader of the Musavat Party, one of the three parties that makes up the largest opposition election alliance, Azadlig (Freedom), said that although the report took note of overall problems, ranging from authorities' control over the election commissions to the issue of voter identification cards, the report did not include information on interference in the election campaign by police and violations of the right to assembly.

"We just hope that the next reports would examine and include the violence during opposition rallies and especially the violence during the September 25 protest and October 1 rally," Gambar said. "All those facts indicate that the Azerbaijani government is not preparing to conduct a transparent poll, but [,instead,] flawed elections,"

Democratic Party of Azerbaijan Deputy Chairman Sardar Calaloglu shared the same point of view, saying that the report could have been much tougher. According to Calaloglu, the report's mention of improvements in registering candidates and granting permission to hold rallies were simply a poor attempt by the Aliyev government to show that the election will be transparent.

But Calaoglu, speaking before the October 9 demonstration, said the election commissions remain under the control of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party, and that the violence during the October 1 rally indicates that the November 6 elections will be falsified.

The OSCE mission report did not include the unsanctioned demonstrations by the Azadlig bloc of three major opposition parties on Sept. 25 and Oct. 1, which resulted in clashes between police and protesters.

The report noted as an improvement the registration of more than 2000 candidates, including 48 political parties and blocs, saying the elections offer the prospect of a broad choice to voters at the polling stations. Overall, the OSCE considered the work of the CEC satisfactory, pointing to regular meetings open to local media and observers.

However, the report raised concern over the internally displaced persons (IDPs), who make up some 12 percent of the electorate, noting that 800,000 IDP, mostly refugees from the Karabakh conflict with Armenia, are living far from their polling stations.

The CEC's Mammadov put that situation down to simple logistics. "Polling stations have been organized in the places where many refugees live close together," CEC member Mammadov said. "But it is not possible to create the possibility to vote for each refugee who is living far away from a polling station."

The OSCE, however, has not been alone in expressing reservations about the chances for a democratic vote this November. On October 4, the New York City-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization issued a statement that argued that abuse against the opposition cast serious doubt on the Azerbaijani government's commitment to ensuring a fair nationwide poll. HRW urged the United States and the Council of Europe to forcefully condemn the police violence against protestors during the opposition's unsanctioned demonstrations in central Baku on September 25 and October 1.

One day after the HRW statement, the US Department of State expressed strong concerns about the events of September 25 and October 1 and urged both the authorities and opposition to "return to the negotiating table in the four weeks before the election."

Following the violence that marked the opposition's October 9 demonstration, the US embassy in Baku issued a statement that called on "all parliamentary candidates and political parties to work with voters seriously to gain their trust and support."

"The US embassy thinks that it is important for Azerbaijan's future to hold a successful election," the statement concluded.

Editor's Note: Editor's Note: Jahan Aliyeva is a freelance reporter currently based in Tbilisi.