From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Sep 25 2002 - 10:28:05 EDT
FINAL DECLARATION -- OF FOUR POLITICAL PARTIES
the results of Azerbaijan's Constitutional Referendum held on
24 August 2002
Baku, Azerbaijan
September 2002
Introduction and Summary
For the sake of the national interests of the people of Azerbaijan, in order to
avoid re-establishment of totalitarianism and authoritarianism in the country and
with the purpose of helping in the improvement of democratic processes, creation of
democratic institutions, and formation of civil society in Azerbaijan, four
political parties functioning in Azerbaijan - the Azerbaijan Democratic Party
(ADP), the Azerbaijan National Independence Party (ANIP), the Popular Front Party
of Azerbaijan (APFP), and the Musavat Party - decided to implement a joint
monitoring effort of the constitutional referendum, which was held on 24 August
2002. The Azerbaijan NGO For the Sake of Civil Society Independent Consultation and
Assistance Center, which is a non-governmental organization, extended its technical
and methodical assistance to this cooperation center of the parties acting together
in Quartet format.
The government created various obstacles to violate oppositional political parties
monitoring activities. Thus:
- Observer IDs were not delivered in time and they were given only a day before the
referendum;
- Part of the observer IDs were not given to the parties at all;
- Part of the IDs given to the parties were invalid;
- Some of the IDs could not be distributed to the observers at the precincts;
- Some observers were not allowed into the election precincts and some of them were
driven out of the election precincts later on etc.
Overcoming the artificial obstacles initiated by the government, the parties
represented in the Quartet basically succeeded in implementing the program that
they had envisaged. Parties participating in the joint monitoring of the referendum
sent approximately 8000 observers out to polling precincts on the referendum day.
As a result of their efforts, in all of the 99 referendum districts the observers
monitored the process. Although it was not possible to cover all referendum
districts due to the reasons mentioned above, in general, 2814 of more than 4000
precincts were monitored by the observers of the parties included in this block.
Thus 56.3% of the precincts were covered.
Voter turnout of the majority of the population who has the right to vote was
monitored by our observers. While the number of those included in the voting list
in the whole country was 4.410.000 people, the number of voters included in the
voting lists of the precincts covered by our observers was 2.856.182 (64,76%). The
reports presented by our observers give a strong basis for thinking that the claims
of the government about validity of the referendum are wrong and in general, the
conditions that are necessary for voters' expressing their will were not provided.
In its first declaration after the referendum, the Central Election Commission
(CEC) of the Republic of Azerbaijan announced that 3.899.242 voters, i.e. 88,47% of
the people included in the voting lists, participated in the referendum. Several
days later, the CEC came out with a new announcement, saying that voter
participation in the referendum was 83%. Azerbaijan Republic's Law on Referendum,
promulgated in December 1997, states that a referendum can be valid if 50% + 1
voters participate in the referendum. And according to the declarations of CEC,
voter participation was very high and the necessary quorum was met in this
referendum.
However, the parties included in the Quartet, taking into consideration the
obtained referendum materials, observer reports, and information from opposition
members in the referendum commissions, declare with full responsibility that the
necessary quorum of voters was not achieved in this referendum. Collected documents
demonstrate that the voter participation was much lower than the official figures
announced by government structures and the CEC, which operates under their direct
instruction. From the information obtained from 2814 precincts it was determined
that 20,3% of the people who have the right to vote (that is, 581.405 voters)
participated in the referendum. [The list of voter participation by districts and
precincts is attached]. On the other hand, even some official information sources
automatically admitted that a major part of the Azeri citizens were left aside the
referendum process. Thus, the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Ukraine, Talat Aliyev
made an official statement that there were 500,000 Azeris living in Ukraine,
100,000 in Belarus, 15,000 in Moldova, being officially registered for a temporary
residence and that only 2,000 people out of that number came and voted at the
referendum on August 24. Similar information was given by the officials of Russia
and other countries. These facts and the fact that the CEC hid the information
about the voter registry from the public, protecting it as a state secrete, proves
that a considerable part of the Azeri voters are outside the country and have not
voted during the referendum. That demonstrates that the referendum was not valid.
The declarations of the government concerning the referendum are an artificial
manipulation of numbers and another unsuccessful attempt for presenting their
unrealistic numbers as the truth.
At the same time, it should be noted that during the process of the referendum, the
government and the election commissions at all levels (central, district, precinct)
under the governments full control, used a variety of methods to achieve the
necessary quorum of voters. Influencing of the will of voters in various forms,
ballot stuffing, falsification of final protocols, pressuring of members of the
referendum commissions and observers, intimidation, threats, etc. - this is just an
incomplete list of the methods the government employed to achieve favorable results
in the referendum.
Violation Type 1 (Pressuring Voters) & Examples
Exerting of pressures on voters was widespread on the referendum day. According to
the information of the observers of the parties included in the Quartet, in 2223 of
2814 monitored precincts (i.e. 79%), such violations were observed. The following
concrete examples prove the fact of exerting pressure:
· In Sumqayit Referendum District No. 38, employees of public offices were
distributed invitations to participate in the referendum and were demanded to bring
those invitations back on the following Monday, with a stamp of the precinct
referendum commission, proving that they actually voted. They were threatened that
if they did not bring any such prove, they would be fired.
· In Khatai Referendum District No. 10, three buses with state numbers (10AC624,
10AY963, and 10AC625) carried specially organized groups from precinct to precinct
for repeated multiple voting.
· In Yasamal-Nasimi Referendum District No. 8, 17 women employees of the State Tax
Ministry were taken to precincts No. 13, 21 and 22 for multiple voting. According
to the information given by the Secretary of the precinct No. 15 of this district
E. Khudaverdiyev, several people, having voted in this precinct, also voted in
other precincts, including precincts No. 13 and 14. In precinct No. 2, Director of
Medical School #1, brought the students who are not registered in that precinct and
forced them to vote by threatening. In precinct No. 10, more than 100 patients
undergoing medical treatment in the Family and Health Center illegally participated
in the voting.
· In Kapaz-Nizami Referendum District No. 33, police force was used for bringing
voters to precincts. While objecting to this, voters were threatened that they
would lose their jobs. For example, a policeman was sent to T. Aliyev's and P.
Aliyeva's home to demand them to come to vote. They were threatened that otherwise,
they would lose their jobs at Kapaz Electrical Network Office.
· In Salyan Referendum District No. 84, the pensioners were told that those who did
not vote would not be paid their pensions.
· In Ali-Bayramli Referendum District No. 29, parents of pupils were told that they
could get free books for their children only if they voted. According to another
information, in this district, certain groups of people were carried by buses from
precinct to precinct for multiple voting. In precinct No. 20, the Deputy Chairman
of the precinct referendum commission and director of the city market Maharram
Huseynov, forcefully brought merchants trading in the market to precincts to vote
several times during the day. (He threatened the merchants that he would not allow
them to trade in the city market if they did not vote)
· In Tazakend village of Ismayilli Referendum District No. 69, a group of people
going to cemetery for a funeral were forcefully taken by representatives of
government organs to precinct No. 32 to vote.
· In several referendum precincts of Aghsu, Kurdemir and Ujar districts, officers
of executive authorities and municipalities organized special groups of people,
whom they provided with the opportunity to vote in several precincts. In these
precincts, massive interference of intruders to the voting process was noted.
· In Nakhchivan Referendum District No. 3 and Samukh-Goranboy-Shamkir Referendum
District No. 85, special groups, organized by local authorities and traveling from
one precinct to another, voted in several precincts.
· In the territory of Khatai district, people were taken by buses of SOCAR and
other organizations to several precincts and were forced to multiple voting. In
percents No. 35 and 36 of Khatai First Referendum District No. 9, 18 people in
fireman uniforms concurrently voted in both of the above-mentioned percents. In
precincts No. 25, 26, 35, 37, and 37, groups of 30-40 people organized by the
Executive Authority voted in all of these precincts. Although there is no military
division in the territory of Khatai Referendum District No. 11, about 300 military
men were brought to the precinct No. 9, located in the School #38, and were given
the opportunity to vote.
· In Narimanov Referendum District No. 24, employees of the Machinery Factory named
after Sattarkhan at once voted nearly in all precincts of the district.
· In precinct No. 22 of Yasamal Referendum District No. 7, more than 100 people
whose names did not appear on the voter lists were given ballots and allowed to
vote.
· In some precincts of Sabayel Referendum District No. 28, refugees residing in
totally different districts voted without showing any document of identification.
In precinct No. 8, observers noticed seven ballots in the hands of one voter and
documented this violation. In precinct No. 3, people who were not on the voter
lists, including employees of the Ministry of Communications and Baku Head Post
Office, participated in voting.
· In Narimanov Second Referendum District No. 25, about twenty-five people came to
precinct No. 25 in a Gazel microbus with state number (10CL207), each asked for 10
ballots and put them in the polling box. In general, in the territory of Narimanov
district, specially organized groups were taken to several precincts, by Ikarus,
Gazel and RAF buses, for multiple voting.
· As precincts No. 33, 34, and 35 of Nasimi Referendum District No. 26 were located
in the same building, many citizens voted at once in all three.
· In most precincts of Khachmaz Referendum District No. 92, special groups composed
of schoolteachers were taken to multiple districts and illegally voted in all of
them. According to the information of the observers, the Director of the District
Education Department disallowed teachers to leave the school until 17:00, saying
that those who would like to leave earlier would be fired.
· In precinct No. 7 of Khachmaz-Devechi Referendum District No. 93, Murad Babayev,
who went to the polling station to vote, was told that somebody else has already
voted for him.
· In precinct No. 5 of Tovuz City Referendum District No. 87, 48 employees of
Azerbaijan Railway Department, who were on a business trip in Tovuz, were given the
opportunity to vote illegally.
· In precincts No. 5, 6 and 7 of Surakhani Referendum District No. 20, same groups
of people were brought to the precincts by the buses belonging to Qum Adasi Oil-Gas
Extraction Department and were to vote in all three. Director of the Department V.
Huseynov supervised this process. And in precincts No. 25, 26 and 27, the Head
Doctor of the Polyclinic Hospital oversaw such processes. In a number of other
precincts, heads of executive authorities and municipalities led the process of
putting fake ballots in the polling box.
· In precinct No. 8 of Neftchala Referendum District No. 79, Chief of Mechanical
Irrigation Department U. Taghiyev called his employees to the precinct on the
pretext of paying their salaries and then forced them to vote.
· According to information given by a member of the Lachin-Kalbajar Referendum
District Commission No. 71 M. Veliyev, leadership of the district had in advance
warned the commission that in their report they should show the voter participation
rate not less than 90%.
· In Zangilan-Qubadli Referendum District No. 86, voters were given ballots without
any identification document. According to the information of the observers, in this
district, a group of people were taken from precinct to precinct by bus and voted
in precincts No. 27, 28 and 29 at once.
· Throughout Khachmaz-Devechi Referendum District No. 93, the police organized and
implemented the process of forcing citizens to vote.
Violation Type 2 (Ballot Box Stuffing/Ballot Falsifications) & Examples
During the referendum day, putting of bunches of ballots in the polling box was
also observed as a widespread practice. Such violations were noted in 94,3% of
precincts (i.e. 2665 precincts). Below are shown some of the massive violations
observed by our representatives:
· In precincts No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Bilasuvar Referendum
District No. 58, putting of bunches of ballots in the box was discovered.
· In precinct No. 38 of Khatai Referendum District No. 11, it was observed that
member of the precinct commission from he Party of Citizens' Solidarity put a bunch
of ballots into the box and this was documented by the observers.
· In precincts No. 1 and 2 of Astara Referendum District No. 53, putting of bunches
of ballots in boxes was observed and documented.
· In precinct No. 4 of Jalilabad Referendum District No 93, cases of one person's
voting for many and commission members' voting on other citizens' behalf were
observed.
· In schools #23, 42, 35, 164 and other schools located in the territory of Nasimi
Referendum District No. 27, teachers voted several times.
· In precinct No. 1 of Zaqatala-Balakan Referendum District No. 66, located in a
school, teachers waited in front of the school and voted every half an hour. In
precinct No. 3, doctors did the same. Head of the Executive Authority of Zaqatala
district personally supervised this process.
· In precinct No. 40 of Zangilan-Qubadli Referendum District No. 86, in precincts
No. 29, 30 and 31 of Absheron Referendum District No.46, and in precincts No. 11,
25 and 28 of Khatai First Referendum District No. 9, the practice of putting
bunches of ballots into boxes was observed.
· Although in Ismayilli Referendum District No. 69 employees of organizations
financed from the state budget were attracted to the voting, only 8% of voters came
to polling stations. In precinct No. 37, while only about 100 people actually came
to vote, bunches of ballots were put in the box and it was reported to the District
Commission that 500 people participated in the voting.
· In precinct No. 7 of Jalilabad Referendum District No. 96, the Chairman of the
precinct commission himself put a bunch of ballots in the box.
· In most precincts of Yardimli-Masalli Referendum District No. 70, many facts of
massive falsification were noted.
· In precinct No. 24 of Lankaran-Lerik Referendum District No. 76, voting ended at
17:40. According to the information of observers, the ballots were counted,
documented and put in the protocol. It should be noted that in the voting lists of
this district names of deceased people were also included. Members of District and
precinct commissions said that these people "participated in voting and died on
their way back home".
· In most precincts of Sumqayit Referendum District No. 40, voting as a group and
putting of bunches of ballots in the polling boxes assumed a massive character.
· In precinct No. 37 of Nizami Referendum District No. 12, members of the
commission - Zahid Aliquliyev, Rena Aliyeva and Irada Naghdaliyeva put bunches of
ballots into the box.
· In precincts No. 11, 12 and 13 of Khatai First Referendum District No. 9,
employees of MIS put bunches of ballots in the box.
· In precinct No. 32 of Oghuz-Sheki-Qabala Referendum District No. 80, Chairman of
the precinct commission came to the polling station, closed the door, put all
ballots in the box, and thus, the voting was "completed".
· Some ballots in the polling box of the precinct No. 8 of Yasamal-Nasimi
Referendum District No. 8 were approved by the stamp of precinct No. 2 of
Nizami-Khatai Referendum District No. 13.
Violation Type 3 (Threats to Observers/Commission Members) & Examples
In order to achieve their purpose, representatives of executive authorities and
chairmen of the commissions used all means of pressure against members of
commissions and observers. In 63,2 of the observed precincts (i.e. in 1778
precincts) such violations were noted. Below are some examples of violations of
this kind:
· According to the information received from Aghdam (village) Referendum Commission
No.48, a member of the precinct commission Qadir Baxshiyev was ousted from the
commission because of objecting to putting bunches of ballot into the box.
· In most precincts of Zaqatala-Balakan Referendum District No. 66, observers from
opposition parties were not allowed to monitor the voting process. They were
demanded to get registered in the district referendum commission. But their appeals
to the commission remained unanswered. Also in this district, while an observer
tried to prevent the ballot stuffing, he was subjected to violence by the
policemen, Chairman of the commission, and representative of New Azerbaijan Party
and then ousted from the precinct.
· In precinct No. 19 of Nakhchivan Referendum District No. 03, observers were not
allowed into the precinct on the pretext that they were not registered in the
district referendum commission.
· In precinct No. 8 of Sabayel Referendum District No. 28, member of the precinct
commission T. Efendiyev was subjected to the violence of the police and ousted from
the commission. In precinct No. 20 of this district and precincts No. 21 and 22 of
Binaqadi First Referendum District No. 21, opposition members of commission and
observers were subject to the violence of the police.
· Director of the school #150, where precincts No. 23 and 24 of Yasamal Referendum
District No. 8 were located, Aftandil Karimov gathered irrelevant women to the
precinct and created conditions for them to insult opposition members of the
commission and observers.
· In precinct No. 21 of Tovuz Referendum District No. 87, an observer of the
Azerbaijan National Independence Party S. Aliyev, who gave a critical interview to
AzTV correspondent, was ousted from the precinct by the director of the
organization where he works. She threatened to fire him.
· In Zaqatala, when observers M. Ismayilov and Q. Jalilov, objected to the putting
of bunches of ballots into the box, a group of teachers of the school, where the
polling station was located, ousted them from the precinct.
· In precinct No. 29 of Aghdam Referendum District, a member of the commission,
while trying to prevent one voters' putting 100 ballots in the box, was subject to
violence and ousted from the precinct.
· In precinct no. 8 of Mingechevir Referendum District No. 37, the deputy chairman
of the precinct commission beat secretary of the commission Tamerlan Efendiyev. In
this district, the deputy chairman disallowed the observers to talk by phone and
take notes.
· In Jalilabad (city) Referendum District No. 96, Head of the District Executive
Authority and Chairman of the district organization of NAP went to precincts and
gave instructions to the chairmen of the commissions.
· In most precincts of Sheki (city) Referendum District No. 43, most ballots were
marked "YES" beforehand. In precinct No. 29, observers Vugar Shafiyev and Ismayil
Shamiyev were ousted by the chairman of the precinct referendum commission. In
precincts No. 37, 29, 10 and 18, opposition members of the commission were ousted
from the commission because of objecting to violations.
· Chairman of Narimanov First Referendum District No. 24 Mustafa Hasanov and
Chairman of Narimanov Second Referendum District No. 25 Irada Aliyeva threatened
to oust the observers, saying that they had to register in the district referendum
commission and their documents should have been sealed by the commission.
· The opposition observer in precinct No. 35 of Zardab district, while objecting to
putting of a bunch of ballots in the box, was taken to the police office.
· In precinct No. 8 of Tovuz-Gedebey Referendum District No. 88, upon instruction
of executive authorities, chairman of the commission Raya Mammadova did not allow
the opposition observers into the precinct, arguing that the latter's documents
given by the CEC were not valid.
· In precinct No. 33 of Nasimi Referendum District No. 26, located in school #152,
observer Elyana Dilbazi was offended by the chairman of that precinct commission
and director of that school Nergiz Namazova.
These violations indicate the attempts of the government of Azerbaijan towards
falsifying the referendum results. But a great number of violations noted by the
observers show that the government's desired result was not achieved, and the
quorum was not reached. In this case, the government and the election commissions
under its control achieved nothing more than exaggerated figures regarding voter
participation.
Four opposition parties, which monitored the referendum of August 24, appealed to
the CEC and courts of various levels, on the basis of the materials that reflected
the facts of election frauds and organized crime. However, all these appeals to the
CEC and courts were illegally rejected.
Conclusion
The four parties that monitored the referendum declare that all the above-mentioned
demonstrate that the referendum was not valid and the will of the people was
falsified as a result of the organized effort of the government.
For all these reasons, we declare the results of the referendum to be illegal and
as an example of falsification practice, deep-rooted in Azerbaijan, it negatively
influenced the development of democratic processes in the country.
The political parties bring this issue to the attention of Azerbaijan's citizens,
both national and international public opinion, and to the attention of foreign
states and international organizations that are interested in stable and democratic
future of Azerbaijan.
Secretary General of the ADP Sardar Jalaloghlu
Chairman of ANIP Etibar Mammadov
Chairman of the APFP Ali Karimli
Chairman of Musavat Isa Gambar
Unified Data on All Districts
Total number of precincts Total number of voters registered in precincts
Total number of voters who participated in voting according to observers'
calculations Voter
Participation
in % Total number of violations observed in precincts
Putting pressure on voters
Ballot Box Stuffing & Falsifications Threatening of commission members
and observers
2814 2.856.182
581.405 2223 2655 1778
56,3% 64,76% 20,3%
79,0% 94,3% 63,2%
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