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 Azerbaijani opposition party Musavat made a decision to quit the pre-election campaign but continue its observation mission during the elections, coordinating its activities with the organizations REAL and NIDA, Arif Hajili, the chairman of the party, said during a press-conference, according to Sputnik Azerbaijan.

According to the report, Musavat had nominated 73 candidates for the elections, including Arif Hajili and Isa Gambar, former chairman of the party.

Turan agency writes that the party took the step because of the violations of the election process in Azerbaijan and because only 24 candidates from the party were registered out of 73. “The voters in Azerbaijan are more informed about the parliamentary elections in Turkey than in their own country,” the agency cites Hajili as saying. He also pointed out that the chances for conducting a campaign had been reduced to minimum and the candidates were deprived of free broadcast time.

Turan further reports that the movement REAL did not withdraw its candidates. However, it said it would not recognize the results of the upcoming elections. The movement said in a statement that in conditions of a lack of a normal atmosphere and chance for the people to freely express their will, the participation in the election campaign pursued the aim of using the chance to talk with people. “The authorities are those responsible for destroying the election institute in the country,” REAL said, as cited by the agency. REAL believes it achieved its aim of informing the population about itself, its goals and program, as well as the illegal arrest of the leader of REAL, Ilgar Mammadov.

According to another report by Turan, the opposition movement NIDA also withdrew its candidates cancelling its participation in November 1 elections because of the existing socio-political situation and repressive atmosphere.

NIDA said in a statement that their “lack of trust in free and fair elections” led them to make the decision. The members of the movement believe the elections “will be falsified again and the regime will form a parliament serving its interests.” The authorities’ behavior during the period of the pre-election campaign showed their eagerness to hold the elections in their traditional scenario: only two out of the eight candidates nominated by NIDA were registered.

“In some cases, the voters were pressured to withdraw their signatures favoring NIDA candidates. Other opposition and independent candidates have also faced such issues. Moreover, in order to further reduce the interest in the election process, the authorities refused to provide free broadcasting time for the candidates to carry out their election campaign on public TV,” Turan writes.
NIDA highlights that the Azerbaijani authorities fear an objective and fair assessment of the elections by respected international institutions, that is why they created obstacles for the OSCE/ODIHR from observing the process. NIDA members, however, do not believe in the PACE delegation objectiveness, either, given their “biased attitude during their previous visit.”

Azerbaijan’s Parliamentary elections are scheduled on 1 November 2015, during which 767 candidates will struggle for the 125 seats in the one-chamber parliament. There were recent local reports about the authorities faking a growth of the number of “independent” candidates for the elections. The international agencies reportedly took up rather stern stance regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections. On 11 September 2015, Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), announced that, due to restrictions imposed by the Azerbaijani authorities, ODIHR had no choice but to cancel its mission to observe the country’s parliamentary elections. Earlier, ODIHR had reported about its intention to send 380 observers to Azerbaijan.