Your trusted source

“OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE ODIHR) will send a long-term mission consisting of 30 people to the presidential elections in Azerbaijan. The name of the person, who will lead the mission, is already known,” the head Azerbaijani delegation to Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, Deputy Elhan Suleymanov, has told to APA Azerbaijani news agency.

In his own words, OSCE ODIHR has also made the decision to form a short-term mission comprised of 280 people.

“In the meantime, the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe will observe the presidential elections, too. For the record, the long-term PACE observation mission comprised of 5-7 people will arrive in Baku on September 11. The European Parliament hasn’t included Azerbaijan in the list of countries to observe the elections. However, that position might change in September,” notes Elhan Suleymanov.

Speaking about the mission of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Suleymanov notes that, according to the information he received from authoritative sources, OSCE PA had already made the decision to send an observation mission to Azerbaijan back in July. But then media somehow spread information that the mentioned structure will not send a mission to Azerbaijan.

“There were two backing arguments in those messages. The first argument was the following; the presidential elections in Azerbaijan coincide by time with the session of OSCE PA in the city of Budva. According to the second argument, OSCE PA, as a rule, sends observation missions to parliamentary not presidential elections. However, as it is known, the presidential elections will be held on October 9, and the date does not coincide with the session,” claims Suleymanov.

According to him, the second argument is equally unsupported, as OSCE PA has sent observation missions to presidential elections of other countries as well. “OSCE PA sent an observation mission to the presidential elections in Armenia, which is located in the same region as us. Besides, OSCE PA has decided to send an observation mission to Georgia, where presidential elections will be held on October 27. The choice of OSCE PA not to send its observation mission to Azerbaijan can be seen as a selective attitude to the countries of the region,” notes Suleymanov.

Azerbaijani presidential elections will be held on October 9, 2013. Former presidential elections took place on October 15, 2008. Acting president Ilham Aliyev has held the position for already two terms since 2003. In March of 2009 a referendum on amendments to the Constitution, which canceled the limit of one person to hold the position for more than two terms, was held. The Venice commission of the Council of Europe announced in that regard: “Giving a person the opportunity to be repeatedly elected as president can be considered as a step backwards in development of democracy.” The Central Electoral Commission of Azerbaijan has already approved the candidacy of the acting president Ilham Aliyev, who is running for his third term.