Azernews.Az

Municipal elections held in Azerbaijan on Wednesday were organized well, but there is a need for specific improvements, the Council of Europe observers have said.
Jean-Claude Frecon of France, the rapporteur of the CE Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, told a news conference held by the 11-people-strong observation mission on Thursday that, in practice, the elections were held in a low-key environment. Polling stations were equipped better in comparison with the previous elections, and suitable conditions were provided for the observation of the voting. Cases of one person casting ballots for his entire family and two people simultaneously entering a polling booth have significantly decreased.
According to the observation mission, which comprises representatives of eight countries, the main problem was the elderly voters’ lack of knowledge of the Latin-based alphabet. In such cases, they were assisted by their relatives or members of election commissions. The observers also witnessed this time that the chairmen of district electoral commissions approached their work more professionally.
The CE monitors visited not the previously designated ballot stations but the ones they had chosen. "Members of the ballot stations we went to were surprised when they saw us."
Frecon thanked the Azerbaijani government for the conditions provided for observing the election. He emphasized that the Central Election Commission (CEC) had timely provided the mission representatives with all the information required for their observations.
Nonetheless, the rapproteur said a number of shortfalls had been revealed in the electoral process. First of all, he said, the environment of elections was not sensed in the country prior to the poll. Another point of concern cited by CE observers was what is described as the opposition’s being split up and divided, which caused the election to be sluggish.
The monitors, who observed the polling in over 100 ballot stations, believe another shortfall was problems with determining which organizations the observers represented. Voters also had some difficulty with lengthy ballot papers in the constituencies where a lot of candidates ran. The observation mission thereby suggested improving the quality of ballot papers in the future.
The observers indicated that the most serious concern was the vote count. They claimed that members of electoral commissions in some polling stations had failed to do this job accurately. "In some instances, the commission members’ attitude toward this job surprised the mission members," Frecon said.
He noted that the observers were also concerned with the low voter turnout, which was 31.86%. According to him, the percentage of the population participating in municipal elections in democratic countries is higher.
"I want to stress three points. The conduct of elections was not sensed very much and did not transcend either on television or the streets. We are disappointed with this, because active election campaigns support democratic development. We have raised the issue of poor coverage of the election campaign on TV channels during our meetings at the Justice Ministry. Secondly, the opposition was sparsely represented at the election and their activity was not properly covered. The third point I would like to make concerns democracy in local self-administration bodies. Both the financial base and the authority of municipalities are insignificant. We are calling for improvements in this area."
The observation mission is expected to announce its final feedback on the elections at a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities bureau on January 15. Further, in March, the organization will submit its final report in writing.
Commenting on the CE observers’ report, Mazahir Panahov, the CEC chairman, said it contained contradictions.
"It says that campaigns of only one political party were conducted on TV channels. But this is wrong. I believe this is a technical error omitted by those preparing the report, because none of the parties actually campaigned on television. YAP [the governing Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party] had the right to campaign on television free of charge, but they did not use it."
Panahov also disagreed with the statement that the public lacked interest in the elections.
"On one hand, they say ballot papers were too large, while on the other, that there was lack of public interest. The reason the ballot papers were large is the great number of candidates. And the great number of candidates is an indicator of great interest in the elections. That is why this reproach is incomprehensible.
"On the other hand, a turnout of 30% to 40% is considered normal for all world countries. It could be higher only in some places, and this can happen for various reasons. Also, voters’ not knowing the Latin alphabet is being criticized. This reproach is out of place as well. Ballot papers are compiled in the alphabet adopted by the state," Panahov said.
According to him, past experience shows that election observers tend to base their feedback on drawbacks. "But at times it is sensed that this is taken as a basis to express a stance assessing the elections, which is undesirable."
Panahov emphasized that there was no police interference with the electoral process. "The police are quite sensible on election-related issues and know what to do. There are absolutely no problems with that now."
The CEC chairman dismissed as baseless the opposition parties’ allegations on election irregularities, adding that the senior electoral body had received no appeals over violations at the polls.
About 31,000 candidates ran for a total of 15,682 seats in 1,718 local bodies. 16 political parties had joined the election race. The voting was conducted in 4,813 polling stations in 118 constituencies across the country. Some 16,755 of the candidates were nominated by political parties, while 14,073 are independent and 147 nominated by initiative groups. 6,108 of the hopefuls were women. The election was monitored by nearly 50,000 observers.*