Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections not meeting OSCE commitments
The OSCE observers made a statement on the parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan November 7. Despite all the efforts made, the country needs to do much more to make progress in developing a truly pluralist democracy, the statement said, according to the OSCE website.
"The run-up to the elections and election day were peaceful and not marred by violent incidents, all opposition parties opted to participate in the political process, however, independent observers have reported vote count irregularities, harassment of opposition observers and ballot box stuffing. Azerbaijan has to make further efforts to ensure greater democratization," observers said.
"Regrettably, our observation of the overall process shows that the conditions necessary for a meaningful democratic election were not established. We are particularly concerned about restrictions of fundamental freedoms, media bias, the dominance of public life by one party, and serious violations on election day. We stand ready to assist the authorities in moving Azerbaijan's elections towards meeting OSCE commitments," said Ambassador Audrey Glover, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR long-term election observation mission.