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One of the biggest problems in the OSCE member countries remains the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This is stated in the annual report of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe published on Tuesday.

“More than 20 years have passed since conflict broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh,” the document reads.

According to the report the chairmanship of the OSCE supports efforts of the Minsk Group to promote dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“Despite the declaration of a ceasefire in 1994, shooting incidents in the area are frequent and violations of the ceasefire are reported on an almost daily basis. Five civilians and 32 servicemen were reported shot and wounded in 2013 and another 14 servicemen killed,” the reports reads.

The report also notes that the OSCE has monitored the presidential elections held in Azerbaijan on October 9, 2013.

ODIHR notes that there were serious violations detected during the Azerbaijani elections. Thus 58 per cent of observed polling stations were assessed as bad or very bad. Very serious problems were indicated. “Indications of a further 23 cases of ballot box stuffing out of 131 were noted during the count,” the document reads.

On 9 October presidential elections took place in Azerbaijan in which the incumbent president Ilham Aliyev won the elections with almost 85% of the vote, thereby taking the post for the third time. The head of National Council of Democratic Forces Jamil Hasanli was second after Aliyev with 5.5% of vote. The opposition declared that it wouldn’t accept the election results because the elections were totally violated by ballot-box staffing, “carousel” etc. OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, U.S Department of State, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Britain and European Parliament called the elections undemocratic and inconsistent with OSCE standards.