Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

The election for the 5th convocation of the Azerbaijani Parliament, which was held on November 1, ended successfully, and the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) announced the results based on the final protocol data provided by 5,547 polling stations.

This year, 767 candidates vied for seats in the supreme legislative body. Some 27 of the winning candidates are new, while the remaining 98 members were re-elected to the parliament.

The CEC announced the results of the voting at the Azerbaijani parliamentary election on November 2.

The voter turnout at the election was high enough, reaching 55.7 percent. Over 2.89 million voters cast their ballots during the election, which is 6 percent more than in the previous election.

Rufat Gulmammadov, the head of the CEC Information Center, said the highest voter turnout (81.2 percent) was registered at the Khazar constituency No 14, while the lowest turnout (36.1 percent) was recorded at the first Surakhani constituency No 30.

The government implemented the necessary measures to guarantee a free, open, and transparent election. The CEC received 150 inquiries on the election day, but there were no complaints.

The Press Council monitored the media coverage of the parliamentary elections. The board members of the Press Council inspected the conditions created for journalists across the country. The council also created a hot line to ensure the smooth coverage of the election but did not register any obstacles for journalists in covering the election.

Several candidates appealed to the Press Council complaining that a number of media outlets had assumed the role of a supporter of certain candidates rather than that of a media representative.

The Press Council urged the journalists to remain neutral and avoid activities that hindered fair rivalry among the candidates.

Observers satisfied

As many as 503 international observers from 40 organizations and more than 66,000 local observers watched the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan.

Despite the absence of the European Parliament, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and OSCE/ODIHR, as well as these organizations' refusal to deploy their own observation missions to Azerbaijan, multiple local and international observers were involved in monitoring the parliamentary election in the country.

The election observation missions monitoring the November 1 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan expressed satisfaction with the democratic conditions and transparency created in the country.

Jason Katz, the head of the Tool Shed Group and former spokesman for the American Jewish Committee based in Los Angeles, believed that certain aspects of the election in Azerbaijan could serve as an example to the United States.

These aspects included the verification of the voter's identity before voting and creative safeguards against multiple voting.

“In general, the voting was a well organized and free process,” he remarked. “The members of the election commissions were efficient and well trained. I have closely watched the election process at various polling stations this morning, and as an American, I was most impressed.”

The election observation mission of the British Parliament's House of Lords was also satisfied with the election in Azerbaijan, held under democratic conditions.

Baroness Detta O'Cathain said she was particularly pleased with the women’s turnout in the election - both for female voters and members of the election commissions. She also mentioned the absence of any pressure on citizens in the electoral process.

Azerbaijan also received a high score from Leonid Slutsky, the Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration, and Relations with Compatriots, who leads the observation missions of the Russian State Duma and the CIS Parliamentary Assembly.

He noted at a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev on November 1 that contrary to the forecasts of some Western circles, no violations of the law were registered at the polling stations during the November 1 parliamentary election in Azerbaijan.

The election observation mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe appraised the Election Day as being calm and peaceful across the country.

"The significant increase in voter turnout and the transparency of voting and counting procedures demonstrate another step forward taken by the Republic of Azerbaijan towards free, fair, and democratic elections and prove that the results of this vote express the will of the Azerbaijani people," PACE mission reported.

The EU spokesperson in his statement stressed that the EU looks forward to continuing cooperation with Azerbaijani institutions, including the newly elected Parliament, to the benefit of all citizens.

In general, the voting process was appraised by the observers as adequate and generally in line with international standards. There were no incidents reported by the observers.

The New Azerbaijan Party wins

This year's parliamentary elections also differed for its political colorfulness. On November 1, some 115 members of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, members of opposition parties entering the "Azadlig-2015" political bloc, and self-nominated candidates from different political parties competed for seats in the parliament.

The results of exit polls conducted among voters during the country's parliamentary elections both by local and foreign companies showed that the ruling party was in the lead with a decisive majority.

The U.S. polling firm Arthur J. Finkelstein & Associates, which also conducted an exit poll on Election Day in Azerbaijan among 7,000 voters at 1,053 polling stations of 118 electoral constituencies, reported that the New Azerbaijan Party was leading the election with 74 percent of the vote. According to the polling results, 65 candidates out of those who won at the election were representatives of the ruling party.

The exit polls showed that the election was held in line with democratic standards and that no violation of election law was observed during the election. The voter turnout was sufficiently high.

Thus, on November 1, the Azerbaijani voters voted for their future, welfare, stability, and security.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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