Presidential elections in Azerbaijan were completely rigged
The party "Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe" firmly denies the joint opinion of the members of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, who observed the presidential elections in Azerbaijan, reads the official website of the party.
The party notes that 45 members of the mission assessed the election on October 9 as "free, fair and transparent." However, the members of the OSCE observation mission and the international organizations have fixed cases of ballot box stuffing and irregularities in the counting of votes.
Party leader and MEP Sir Graham Watson was shocked by the joint conclusion of PACE and the European Parliament.
"The Council of Europe is to defend the human rights. It is recognized that Azerbaijan has never respected these rights, and the level of democracy and the rule of law has never been high there. PACE and the European Parliament's report would be laughable if its consequences were not that serious," stated the leader of the party.
Graham Watson notes that the publication of the election results before closing the polls showed that the elections were totally rigged. In addition, the behavior of "freelance" MEPs, invited by the Azerbaijani government, was even more reprehensible.
On October 9 presidential election were held in Azerbaijan during which incumbent President Ilham Aliyev received 84.54% of votes. Jamil Hasanli, a single candidate from the opposition National Council of Democratic Forces, was on the second place. He scored 5.53% of the vote.
The joint statement of the ODIHR / OSCE observation mission and the Parliamentary Assembly, noted that the presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan in terms of restriction of freedom of speech and assembly. In its turn, the Minister for European Affairs David Lidington stated that the British Foreign Ministry shares the OSCE / ODIHR’s opinion that the presidential elections held in Azerbaijan failed to meet the commitments with OSCE. Opinion of the OSCE and the United Kingdom are also divided the U.S. Department of State.
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