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OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Election Observation Mission (OHIHR) has issued Report 2 on parliamentary elections campaign in Azerbaijan, Turan informs.

Refusals to register candidates appeared, in most instances, to be due to an overly restrictive interpretation of provisions of the Election Code. The results of the verification of signatures collected in support of candidates were the main reason for ConECs’ decisions to reject requests for registration. Many signatures were invalidated due to expired IDs of signatories, although the CEC had told the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission (EOM) that this would not be a ground for invalidation. Candidates were frequently not informed in detail which signatures were invalidated nor was the reason for their invalidation given, the report says.

The OSCE/ODIHR EOM received credible reports of intimidation of and pressure on voters to sign or withdraw their supporting signatures, as well as allegations of direct pressure on candidates, their relatives and their representatives.

“The use of campaign material is very limited. OSCE/ODIHR EOM observers reported some instances of obstruction of candidates’ campaign activities by police and local authorities,” it reads further. Media coverage of the elections and the campaign in the news and current affairs programs has been limited and is characterized by a tendency to focus not on the campaign, but rather on other political issues and on procedural aspects of the election. The CEC and the authorities receive significant coverage, while news coverage of opposition candidates remains very limited. Public TV is the only national channel to organize daily roundtable discussions that provide each candidate with four minutes of free airtime, according to the report.

The Baku Court of Appeals has thus far reviewed over 50 cases, dismissing them all. The court has so far declined to accept as evidence any testimonies of witnesses suggested by the appellants, the source says. An APFP–Musavat rally announced for 17 October in Baku was not authorized by the city’s executive authorities.17 The two parties decided to cancel the rally altogether because, as a senior Musavat member told the OSCE/ODIHR EOM, “they do not want their supporters to face possible violence or detention by the police”. In addition, they were concerned that the participation of the bloc’s candidates at an unauthorized rally could be used as grounds to deregister them.

The report also says, state-funded AzTV, the only TV channel to cover almost the entire country, is no longer legally obliged to provide equal campaign conditions and to allocate free airtime to all candidates. It devoted favourable and extensive news coverage to the activities of the authorities, both before and after the official start of the campaign. At the same time, it produced news items discrediting opposition candidates and journalists.