Your trusted source

MFA of the United Kingdom shares the opinion of the OSCE/ODIHR that the elections of Azerbaijan fell short of full adherence to its OSCE commitments, David Lidington, the Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) said.

According to the minister OSCE/ODIHR was concerned about the Azerbaijani elections, included limitations on the freedom of expression, assembly and association; allegations of intimidation of candidates and journalists during the campaign, and significant problems on election day itself.

“I share ODIHR’s concern that overall conduct of the elections fell short of full adherence to Azerbaijan’s OSCE commitments,” stated Lidington.

Azerbaijan held presidential elections on October 9, where Ilham ALiyev took a victory with 84,58% votes. According to the preliminary data, Jamil Hasanli a single candidate from the oppositionist National Council of Democratic Forces is on the second place. He scored 5,54% of votes. The leaders of the "Musavat" party Isa Gambar, the head of the Popular Front Party Ali Kerimli, the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan Sardar Jalaloglu and leader of the movement “EL” Eldar Namazov have declared about "total violations" and frauds during the presidential elections. The candidate of the National Council Jamil Hasanli has also noted the mass election frauds and announced incumbent President Ilham Aliyev responsible that. Jamil Hasanli’s headquarter has regularly issued releases describing election violations in details - ballot stuffing, "carousels", pressure on observes, etc.