Foreign Ministry: State Dept statement on Azerbaijan election unacceptable
By Nazrin Gadimova
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry expresses regret over the U.S. State Department's statement on the presidential election held on October 9 and considers it unacceptable, the Foreign Ministry said on October 11.
According to the ministry's statement, the election was held freely, democratically, fairly and transparently under the observation of 52,000 local and 1,300 international monitors and on the basis of Azerbaijan's Constitution and the electoral legislation.
The results of the election and the entire election process were assessed as free, democratic and fair by the missions of the European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, OIC, TURKPA, CIS, GUAM and other international organizations, as well as by the observation missions from over 100 countries.
The registration of candidates and the campaigning were conducted transparently in accordance with the electoral legislation, and the freedom of assembly and expression was ensured, the Foreign Ministry's statement said.
In general, the election was one more important step towards democracy, said the statement.
The organization of the election process again demonstrated that in accordance with the assumed obligations, Azerbaijan has achieved considerable success in improving the conduct of elections as an important element of the democratic process, the statement said.
The Foreign Ministry said sporadic cases of irregularities and technical shortcomings were attributed to the entire electoral process instead of being forwarded to relevant entities in accordance with the Azerbaijani legislation and it was maintained that the election did not meet international standards, which cannot be regarded as a fair stance.
Such an attitude brings the Azerbaijani-U.S. relations into question and is deemed absolutely biased, unacceptable and disrespectful to the Azerbaijani citizens who freely expressed their opinion in the election, the ministry said.
The October 9 presidential election in Azerbaijan ended with an overwhelming victory of incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, who was nominated by the ruling New Azerbaijan Party.
According to preliminary election tallies drawn up after processing the ballot papers from all polling stations, Ilham Aliyev got 3,126,612 votes (84.55 percent).
The voting was monitored by international observers from the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA), TurkPA, GUAM, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), representatives of the diplomatic missions accredited in Azerbaijan, as well as observers from the U.S., Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Indonesia, and Moldova.
Observers stated that the presidential election in Azerbaijan was held in a fair, free and transparent atmosphere and in line with international standards. The campaigning of the candidates was organized well and all the candidates were provided with equal conditions.