ECR mission: Presidential election in Azerbaijan held professionally, in good atmosphere
By Trend
Although the April 11 presidential election was observed with some deficiencies, they did not affect the final voting results, Beata Sobkiewicz, a member of the observation mission of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) and Polish observer, said at a briefing dedicated to the election results in Baku April 12.
In general, the election was held in a professional and legal manner and in a peaceful, free and transparent environment, she noted.
“We observed the process of counting the votes in a number of polling stations. According to all observers, the counting of votes was carried out professionally, fairly and transparently. The ECR delegation appreciates the improvements made in the electoral process, staff training and general procedures. Many other international and local election observation teams have also joined our mission. When we communicated with them during our stay in Azerbaijan, we did not notice any obstacles to their activity,” added Sobkiewicz.
The mission did not observe any significant or systematic violations of the Election Code on election day, she said.
“We didn’t observe interference in the voting process at any polling station or any pressure on voters in the election process at any polling station or nearby the polling stations. The overall atmosphere was safe,” added the observer.
According to the results of the processing of ballots from 5,201 polling stations, incumbent head of state, Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party Ilham Aliyev has garnered 86 percent of votes in the presidential election in Azerbaijan.
On the voting day, 5,426 permanent polling stations and 215 temporary polling stations in 125 constituencies operated in the country.
The election was observed by 894 international observers (61 organizations, 59 countries) and 58,175 local observers.
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