Russian CEC criticizes OSCE/ODIHR report over election in Azerbaijan
Chairman of Russia`s Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov criticized an interim report of OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission issued ahead of the presidential election in Azerbaijan, AzerTag state news agency reported.
Addressing the annual OSCE human rights conference in Warsaw, Churov expressed his position over the estimation of representatives of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of preparations to upcoming presidential election in Azerbaijan.
"I would like to remind that representatives of OSCE/ODIHR have made a decision, which is again standard for CIS countries - everything is bad there and a large scale mission must be sent there for a maximum long period. As it is known, a demand of the Azerbaijani authorities to explain such estimation has not been responded," he said.
Churov went on to say that under the Constitution of Azerbaijan, the right to stand for president is granted to any voter who has permanently resided in Azerbaijan for at least 10 years, and has a university degree.
"Interim report on 28 August - 12 September 2013 by the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission considered these requirements as unreasonable restrictions and contrary to good practice. However, I think, it is not right," he said.
According to him, other countries demand that candidates must live in the country since their birth.
"Only two observers monitored the elections in Germany in September this year. There are a lot of such examples. Are not there shortcomings in elections in developed countries? Why do you remain silent about it?" he concluded.
Azerbaijan will hold elections on October 9 to elect its president for the next five-year term. Campaigning for next month's presidential election, which started on September 16, continues with ten candidates.