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16-page special report: Parliamentary Elections

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SPECIAL REPORT: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

NOVEMBER 2015

Azerbaijan raises voters’ awareness in Parliamentary elections T he Central Election Commission managed to raise awareness in Azerbaijan’s parliamentary election, Rovzat A. Gasimov, head of Secretariat of the CEC of Azerbaijan, told New Europe in Baku. The CEC had finalised all steps for the preparation of the elections, he said.

“It’s a historic day in the country’s life. It’s our fifth call Parliamentary elections – elections to the Millis Mejlis,” he said.

He noted that the CEC had finalised its projects regarding of awareness rising of different electorates and had got a big number of candidates that were running for the elections. “It’s 767 candidates and almost half of them represented 24 political parties so it was quite inclusive elections regarding representation of political parties,” he said.

“In Europe also the turndown is also going down. The Central Election Commission has done all possible steps for bringing voters out and you could observe on TV we have had very intensified campaigning for people to get out of vote,” he said.

The CEC has formed a database of Azerbaijani voters back to 2,000. “So far we have 15-year old database of our electoral voters so every year we are updating our voter list,”

INTERVIEW

Rovzat A. Gasimov, head of Secretariat of the Central Election Commission, of Azerbaijan.

he said. Around 5.2 million voters were entitled to vote and were on the CEC’s voters’ list but if someone was missing on the voters’ list there was a certain procedure, just to

show their ID, if there were entitled to vote within that polling station and they could vote, Gasimov said.

“There is no way to keep Azerbaijani vot-

er out of voting – there is no legal procedure for that,” he said.

Altogether there are 125 seats in the Parliament and the elections were conducted in 125 constituencies and altogether there were 5,547 polling stations that served Azerbaijani voters.

Turning to women’s participation, he said that to 20% of candidates were women.

“They are quite active and, of course, we would like them to be more active time-bytime the percentage of women activity in political processes will go up,” he said.

Candidates appeal to their local communities. “Generally the voters’ interest is up to the candidates in that constituency. If the candidates have done successful campaigning it brings voters out to vote,” Gasimov said.

He said Azerbaijan belongs to Europe.

“I’m not speaking as an Election Commission official, as a citizen I see our community very interested in European values and we have every time emphasised that. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. We want to learn from Europe. We want to see constructive, good approach from Europe and to follow the way to Europe,” Gasimov said.

Count of votes at Parliamentary election wraps up All 5,547 polling stations submitted reports to the Central Election Commission within the framework of the election to the Milli Majlis, Azerbaijan’s Parliament, held November 1, the “Election” information center of the Central Election Commission said.

Some 2.894,515 million ballots have been processed. Thus, the counting process has been fully completed.

Azerbaijan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) announced the results of the voting at the Azerbaijani parliamentary election.

The election was declared valid at all the polling stations, and the voter turnout at the election was 55.7%. Over 2.89 million voters cast their ballots during the election, which is six percent more than in the previous election.

The names of leading candidates in all 125 constituencies were announced November 1. The CEC conducted the following session chaired by Mazahir Panahov on November 2. Firstly, the session minutes of the Commission, dated October 28 and October 29, 2015 were approved.

Later, the appeals entered the Central Election Commission regarding the Elections to the Milli Majlis on November 1 were also reviewed and after the discussions held by the Commission members, relevant decisions were adopted on the appeals put in the session upon timely investigation within the period and manner defined by law.

“Only the will of Azerbaijani voters determines legitimacy of elections,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said in a statement.

“PACE’s observer mission, as well as other international and local observer missions confirmed that the election, held in Azerbaijan on November 1, was free and democratic, reflected the voters’ will, while the election preparations and the voting process were organised at a high level.” “The voting process complied with the Electoral Code of Azerbaijan, and neither the Central Election Commission, nor the international observers had any complaints regarding the electoral process,” the statement said.

“Some circles’ talks about a “boycott” of the election, statements about a low voter turnout and that allegedly Azerbaijan didn’t create an opportunity for the ODIHR to observe the election, are absolutely groundless accusations aimed at casting shadow on the Azerbaijani election results.”

The ministry added that the attempts to speak on behalf of the Azerbaijani voters and candidates, as well as some international media outlets’ biased reports, which don’t have any reference to official sources, are absolutely inadmissible.

“According to the initial information of the Central Election Commission, the voting started at 8 a.m. in all 5547 stations and ended at 7 p.m. In activity of voters was 55.7%.

All the necessary conditions were created

People vote at Azerbaijan’s Parliamentary elections at the 22 Polling Station at Number 7 School on Uzeyir Hajibeyli Street, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015 NEW EUROPE/KG

for candidates during the election for them to freely hold campaigns, said the ministry, adding that webcams were installed at polling stations and independent research centers conducted exit polls.”

“The election was monitored by more than 500 international and over 63,000 local observers,” said the Ministry, adding “international observers were representing over 40 international organizations and 27 countries.”

The Foreign Ministry also said that in July this year, it sent an invitation to the OSCE/ ODIHR, and on August 12-14, a mission of the organisation visited Azerbaijan and prepared a report, recommending 30 longterm and 350 short-term observers.

“After the Azerbaijani side refused to receive such a large mission in the country with 125 constituencies, OSCE/ODIHR violated its

mandate and refused to sending its observers to Azerbaijan,” said the ministry.

“OSCE/ODIHR has no right to unilaterally adopt such a decision, said the Foreign Ministry, adding that this institute, according to its mandate, should provide technical support to member countries in organising and holding elections.”

“Following such a biased and unprofessional attitude of OSCE/ ODIHR, coupled with a serious violation of its mandate, this structure and other circles have no grounds to express an opinion on the results of the election in Azerbaijan, according to the message.”

“Azerbaijani people freely used their right to vote and participated in this election, said the ministry, adding that the results and legitimacy of the election is determined by voters, their activity and their votes.

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SPECIAL REPORT: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

NOVEMBER 2015

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Azerbaijan is in Europe already!

New Europe sat down to discuss with Elkhan Suleymanov, the Chair of the Azerbaijan Mili Majlis Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, on his country’s European perspectives. The parliamentary component of the EU’s Eastern Partnership, Euronest took a blow in September 2015 when the Azerbaijani Parliament voted to withdraw its delegation from this initiative. Seem by many as an already flailing affair, the fate of Euronest remains in question. At the same time, an Association Agreement negotiated between the EU and Azerbaijan seems to have been all but forgotten and the very fate of EU-Azerbaijani relations is in question.

were simple observers were attacked by the anti-Azerbaijan campaign! By people who did not come to Azerbaijan, but who thought they know the reality better! I am sorry, but we cannot treat this position as a serious one!

INTERVIEW

NE: How did you respond then to all the accusations regarding the November elections in your country?

ES: I invited anyone not to believe any lies they read in manipulative messages and to understand that we are the victims of an elaborate defamation campaign meant to protect an illegal occupation of our territory. The elections were free and fair and I am hoping the new elected members of the Mili Majlis will do good work and show any international partners that we are a fully functioning democracy.

NE: Mr. Suleymanov, can you begin by explaining to us the decision of the Mili Majlis? Isn’t this a bad decision for Azerbaijan when the European Union is such an important trade partner?

Elkhan Suleymanov: Let me begin by saying that this decision is not about the whole of the EU. We maintain good relations with all the governments and the parliaments in the EU, we work with the European Commission, we welcome their Delegation in Baku, in short I believe relations between Azerbaijan and the EU are good.

This is about the European Parliament and the insulting way they have treated us for several years now. That institution has shown itself to be hypocritical: one day it calls us in Euronest, talks about friendship and cooperation. The other day it adopts slandering resolutions talking about all sorts of fake and unfounded abuses and scandals. At the same time, one day they criticise the events in Ukraine, Georgia, they condemn occupation, war. When it comes to us, they never criticise the Armenian occupation of our territory. They even defend Armenia. In this context, we felt that the European Parliament is not a coherent partner. We could not continue cooperating with them.

NE: But do you think this is a majority view? And in the end, what is the harm done by these resolutions if, as you say, they are unfounded?

ES: I know for sure that we have friends in the Parliament still. We received many signals and letters, after our decision showing that there are many members who understand reality. The vote itself on this latest resolution was also very narrow.

But, it still passed. So the official position is this: The EP wants to condemn and attack us. And these resolutions are only the tip of the iceberg. Every week, it seems, we were informed of conferences in Brussels attacking us. We saw emails being sent to MEPs with things we know for sure are lies about the situation in our own country. Sadly, it seems most MEPs have be-

Elkhan Suleymanov, the Chair of the Azerbaijan Mili Majlis Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

lieved this anti-Azerbaijan campaign. The resolutions are just a signal that a majority of the European Parliament is influenced by lobbies trying to create conflict in our region, interested in preserving the illegal Armenian occupation, to prevent trade, to prevent energy security for Europe. We cannot continue to accept these slanders and attacks. If a person will insult you and try to say bad things about you, maybe at first you will try to reason with them. But after a while you have to ignore them and continue with your life.

NE: But did you really try to communicate? Did you make any effort to solve these problems?

ES: I believe we did everything humanly possible to preserve this cooperation. I sent many letters, official messages to the President of the EP, to Euronest. I received almost no replies in return. And this is very sad, because at the beginning we really invested ourselves in this project.

We welcomed the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in Baku. We did everything possible to make it a success. We worked on common resolutions. But no matter how much we worked, again and again the EP kept publishing, every year with more critical resolutions. We sent info notes proving all allegations are fake, noting that this is a fabricated lobbying campaign. Every person being arrested in Azerbaijan, for tax fraud, for things which are illegal also in the EU, the next day we saw MEPs calling them political prisoners. Everything about our country is reported in Brussels as in a conspiracy, everything is changed to make us look like a bad country. I invite anyone to come and see that Azerbaijan is

a free and democratic state.

I mean look at some of those criticisms. They said the pardoning of an Azerbaijani officer, Safarov, was a human rights abuse and urgent international crisis! That is ridiculous! It might be a matter of law, but no human rights issue! They put our country on the same list of problems as Syria, as terrorism, they created this fake image on Azerbaijan! How can we keep working like this?

NE: But there does seem to be a consensus there are problems in Azerbaijan. You can’t mean there is nothing wrong in your country?

ES: Sir, there is a difference between talking about problems and having a negative image that has nothing to do with reality. We know there are issues, like in all new democracies. It takes time to change a society, to implement legal and penal changes, practice, to stamp out corruption. Most EU states from the East have the same problems like we do. But you don’t see them being attacked every day by the EP! At the same time, look how they treat us. They don’t event come to Azerbaijan to see the reality, but already publish verdicts on things which have not yet even happened! The European Parliament decided not to send a mission in 2015 to our elections in November because they thought the elections would not be democratic! How can they even decide that beforehand! It is because they don’t care about reality! If they did, they would come and see we are democratic and free.

The EP came in 2013, saw this, published a report on this and then those MEPs who

NE: What does this mean for Azerbaijan’s future? Are you still going to cooperate with Europe? Are you still interested in a new treaty with the EU? ES: Azerbaijan is in Europe already!

And of course we will keep cooperating with EU members, with parliaments. We keep working in the Council of Europe and our doors are open even to the EP. But we will need to see real messages of respect. We need to see they want to resolve the conflict in our territory - that they want to understand our country.

As it is right now, we, of course, maintain trade and good relations as much as we can. You ask about a treaty, but I am not certain what this even means in the reality of Europe. Armenia, a violent aggressive state has rejected the EU agreement treaty, they even decided to sign one with the Customs Union. And look, the European Parliament is still protecting them, being very partisan. So it is difficult for me to say why we would need a treaty if even a country rejecting it still gets such good treatment.

NE: Do you have any direct message for the Members of the European Parliament?

ES: Yes, as I have said in previous letters: we want to keep negotiations and cooperation open. We need to keep communicating. But we need to know we can have a partner who listen to us, to see signals from Brussels that they understand and care about our real problems: the occupation, our internally displaced persons, the regional security situation, our trade and development needs. We need to know they do not discriminate against us, that they understand we’re a sovereign state. And most importantly, that they’re not themselves manipulated. Only then can we consider the European Parliament a potential partner again.

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SPECIAL REPORT: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

NOVEMBER 2015

President meets delegations of several countries, international organisations

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zerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has received delegations of several countries and international organisations, who were observing the parliamentary elections in the country on November 1.

Contrary to the forecasts of some Western circles, no any violation of law was registered in the polling stations during the November 1 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, Leonid Slutsky, the Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, said at a meeting with Aliyev on November 1.

Slutsky, who leads the observation missions of the Russian State Duma and the CIS Parliamentary Assembly, said they had monitored the preparations for the elections since August.

He also noted that on the Election Day, they witnessed big progress in comparison with the previous elections.

Touching upon the refusal of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to observe the elections in Azerbaijan, Slutsky said with this decision the organization proved to the European community that it has already become outdated as an institution from a political point of view.

Aliyev said the OSCE/ODIHR does not have the right to decide independently not to monitor the elections, and added that this organization violated all rules and regulations.

“The duty of the OSCE/ODIHR is to observe the elections. As you know, we have invited them, and asked them to give an explanation on the methodology of defining the number of observers in different countries. Instead of responding to us, they decided not to send observers at all,” he noted.

The head of state said that all these actions are unacceptable.

Aliyev received Ilyas Umakhanov, the Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of Russia.

During the meeting, Umakhanov said they eye-witnessed good mood of voters during the observations conducted in 15 polling stations, and noted that all necessary conditions were created for political parties and international observers in the country.

He also noted that they exchanged views with foreign counterparts on the application of Azerbaijan’s experience in organising the electoral process.

President Aliyev expressed satisfaction with active participation of the mission led

by Umakhanov in monitoring of the election process.

He said significant reforms have been carried out to organize transparent, quality elections in compliance with the highest standards.

The head of state underlined huge work done to organize the elections in a more perfect manner.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has received delegations of several countries and international organisations.

The sides stressed that Azerbaijani-Russian relations are developing in a variety of fields, and expressed confidence that the bilateral ties would continue to expand.

President Aliyev also met with a delegation of members of the Australian Parliament led by member of the House of Representatives Luke Simpkins, a delegation led by Speaker of the Parliament of Malta Anglu Farrugia, a Pakistani delegation led

by Chairman of the Senate Defence Committee Mushahid Hussain Syed, as well as Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties Chung Eui-yon.

Ali Hasanov, the Azerbaijani President’s Aide for Public and Political Affairs, has commented on the refusal of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to send its observers to Azerbaijan, saying this cannot cast shadow on the legitimacy of the elections.

“The government of Azerbaijan invited the OSCE ODIHR to send its monitoring mission to the parliamentary elections, and has repeatedly expressed its openness and readiness to discuss the activity of the mission. Unfortunately, the OSCE ODIHR did not recognize the true value of this initiative and unilaterally refused to send a mission to Azerbaijan,” Hasanov said.

“We consider this a politicized decision which contradicts the charter and principles of the OSCE. By this move ODIHR set a very negative precedent in the election observation practice.”

The Presidential Aide further noted that the government of Azerbaijan is fulfilling all its international obligations and commitments in accordance with the country`s laws, and is ready to continue equal, mutually fruitful cooperation with the organizations it is a member of. “At the same time, Azerbaijan is

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an independent, rapidly developing state.

Azerbaijan has never built its policy based on others` wishes, and will remain committed to its position that any attempts by any forces to impose their will on it are unacceptable,” he said.

High voter turnout is being observed in the ongoing parliamentary election in Azerbaijan, Estonian observer Uno Silberg told reporters November 1. This election is very important for Azerbaijan, he said. “We are carefully observing this process,” said Silberg.

“I think that the voting process has been organized very well.”

“We talked to many voters. They noted that the election in Azerbaijan is transparent, and the candidates are competing on equal terms,” the Estonian observer added.

Silberg noted that it is not his first visit to Baku for observing the elections. The observer believes that each time, the election process even more improves in Azerbaijan. “I am confident that democracy is at a high level in Azerbaijan,” he said.

British observer Michael Hancock has hailed the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, saying they were well organised. “I think the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were transparent, free and fair,” he said.

Hancock, who has a rich experience of election monitoring as part of the Council of Europe and UN missions, praised Azerbaijan`s electoral system.

He also applauded women’s role in the elections. “They are a vital part of the elections both as voters and observers,” Hancock added.

Excluding a few minor flaws, the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan have been held successfully and democratically, Ali Ahmadov, YAP Deputy Chairman and Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, told reporters.

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PACE says election day ‘calm and peaceful across the country’

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he Election Observation Mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was invited by the Azerbaijani authorities to monitor the parliamentary elections on November 1.

The Mission comprised 28 members and was led by Jordi Xuclà (Spain, ALDE). The members were deployed in several areas of the country and the capital, Baku, and observed in a wide number of polling stations.

The elections were held in accordance with the Election Code of Azerbaijan, which provides a legal framework for the democratic conduct of elections, PACE said.

“It is the consensus of this Mission that Election Day was calm and peaceful across the country. The voting process was observed to be adequate and generally in line with international standards,” PACE said in a statement.

“Voters had full and unimpeded access to polling stations and there were no incidents reported by the observers. The observation mission therefore congratulates the Azerbaijani people for their peaceful and orderly conduct during this electoral process. The Central Election Commission contributed to the transparency of the process by releasing updates from the opening of the polls until the end of the counting and tabulation of the results,” it said.

“Based on the observations of the Mission and meetings with other stakeholders, it can be stated that the preparation for the elections and the voting processes were professionally and technically well organised.

Observers noted improvements in the access

of voters to information, the inclusiveness of voter registration and the quality of electoral materials,” PACE said.

It noted that throughout Election Day, the Mission did not report any major or systemic violations of the Election Code. “However, in a few polling stations minor ballot stuffing was observed. While the Mission could not establish the source or the responsibility for this, it deplores this practice and calls on the CEC to duly investigate and to report on this irregularity,” PACE said.

“No acts of pressure on voters or any other incidents in or near the polling stations were observed. There was no police presence around the polling stations or any campaign and electoral materials nearby. A welcome development was the introduction of web cameras in 20% of polling stations, as specifically requested by the Venice Commission. On the other hand, security cameras in schools should be covered in the future to fully ensure the privacy of the vote.

“There was wide coverage of election day in local media. During the count, some shortcomings mainly related to gaps in the expertise of electoral staff were observed, not however influencing the final result. The Mission urges the CEC to further improve the training of staff in this area,” PACE said.

Besides electoral issues, the Mission noted “with regret that serious concerns in the sphere of human rights still remain in Azerbaijan as several human rights defenders and NGO activists are imprisoned on different charges”. The PACE mission noted the refusal of the European Parliament, OSCE Par-

The Milli Mejlis, the 125-seat parliament of the Azerbaijan Republic

Orkhan Rustamov, who is 18-years old, votes for the first time in the Azerbaijan’s Parliamentary elections at the 22 Polling Station at Number 7 School on Uzeyir Hajibeyli Street, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015 NEW EUROPE/KG

liamentary Assembly and OSCE/ODIHR to deploy their own observation missions.

However, the EOM welcomes the presence of multiple local and international observers.

In conclusion, the delegation stated that despite the above-mentioned shortcomings, the significant increase in voter turnout and the transparency of voting and counting procedures demonstrate another step forward taken by the Republic of Azerbaijan towards free, fair and democratic elections and that the results of this vote express the will of the Azerbaijani people.

However, the PACE EOM called on the Azerbaijani authorities to urgently improve the situation on human rights and to continue the democratic development of the country after the elections. The Mission encouraged the Azerbaijani authorities to take careful note of the recommendations made by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission and Resolution 2062 on the Functioning of Democratic Institutions in Azerbaijan approved by the Assembly on June 23, 2015. The Mission also underlined the

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importance of the findings of other international organisations (the European Parliament, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE/ODIHR) regarding previous and current elections.

“As Azerbaijan is a country under the Assembly’s monitoring procedure, this Mission recommends to the Assembly to continue its co-operation with the Azerbaijani authorities, in order for Azerbaijan to fulfill its obligations and commitments, as agreed during its accession to the Council of Europe,” PACE said.

Meanwhile, Sergey Lebedev, the head of the CIS observation mission, the CIS executive secretary, said at a press conference in Baku on November 2 that the peace and stability in Azerbaijan is a guarantee of the country’s further progressive development.

“People actively voted in the Azerbaijani parliamentary election,” he said. “There were queues in some polling stations.”“ The insignificant technical violations were recorded,” he said. “But in general, the election was transparent and democratic.”

Observer from the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), chairman of the Pakistani Senate’s Defence Committee Mushahid Hussain Syed said the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan was transparent. The election was organised at high level and was held in democratic conditions without incidents, according to the observer.

“Our delegation with six members visited about 25 polling stations in various parts of Baku,” he said. “No violations of law were recorded in these polling stations.” “We are very satisfied with the voting process,” Hussain Syed added.

He pointed out that modern technologies were used during the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan.

The Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan announced the results of the voting at the Azerbaijani parliamentary election on November 2.

The election was declared valid at all the polling stations, and the voter turnout at the election was 55.7%. Over 2.89 million voters cast their ballots during the election, which is 6% more than in the previous election.

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SPECIAL REPORT: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

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ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

A typical election

International observers share their experiences from watching the parliamentary election polls

Canadian Senator Percy E. Downe after a round table discussion in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015

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A number of the polls I went to they had video cameras.

- Percy E. Downe BAKU - On November 1, hours before the election polls closed for the Millis Mejlis, Azerbaijan’s Parliament, New Europe held a roundtable discussion with three international observers in Baku: Canadian Senator Percy E. Downe, Polish Member of Parliament Mariusz Antoni Kaminski and Spanish Member of Parliament Antonio Limones Gutierrez about their experience from monitoring the elections.

Downe: Didn’t really get into that because we were only watching.

Mariusz Antoni Kaminski: Yes, we only watched. It’s my second time in Azerbaijan.

I observed also the presidential election two years ago but also I’m a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe so I have observed many elections in Europe and other countries and I must say that it is a

Polish Member of Parliament Mariusz Antoni Kaminski in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015.

It’s really professional work.

Typical like other European

- Mariusz Antoni Kaminski countries.

typical democratic election. I observed, I noticed that members of the election committee in polling stations are very professional. They know very well the procedure and they know procedure and they know what should they do and it’s really professional work. Typical like other European countries, for instance.

Antonio Limones Gutierrez: I agree with him. It’s my second one. I’ve been here

New Europe: Is it the first time you have done election monitoring?

twice. The last time I was here was in the presidential election and I realised that everything was well organized, and everything is going on like in all our country’s elections. Everybody goes there and they have opportunity to vote and I don’t know what they are doing in other countries but here they are doing very good and the elections are going fair and well.

NE: How do they compare to your country like Spain?

Gutierrez: You know something that happened to me. You realise that they are many women on all the polling stations. They are many women in the commissions. They were many women observers.

Percy E. Downe: No, it’s not my first time. I have done election monitoring in Kazakhstan and Albania as well so no, it’s not my first time.

Kaminski: I had the same impression.

To compare to my country first, much more women in election committee and server site and I also noted that it is a very good idea, the video camera – 1,000 video cameras in poll-

NE: Has the process changed?

Downe: Well, I found it became like any country over time it became more professional.

Today, for example, a number of the polls I went to they had video cameras where people I understand from the Election Commission can live-stream and watch it so that’s new.

NE: Were people informed about the different candidates?

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Spanish Member of Parliament Antonio Limones Gutierrez in Baku, Azerbaijan, NEW EUROPE/KG November 1, 2015.

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SPECIAL REPORT: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

NOVEMBER 2015

ing stations. We don’t have it in Poland and I think we should do it also. It’s much more transparent process and also absolutely secret voting. In this case everything was absolutely correct.

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ghayev Aydin, a 57-year-old car mechanic, holding his 14-month-old grandson votes at the Polling Station Number 14 at the 110 kindergarten on Abbasov Street in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015. Aydin, who lives across the street from the polling station told New Europe that he checked all the candidates, collected info about them to decide, “Who is good for us, who will be useful.” “If he or she is good for the community, I will vote for him in the next election,” he said.

NE: Since you are from Europe and Canada, do you get a sense of watching the process that Azerbaijan is part of Europe?

Downe: We really didn’t get into that because we are here as elections monitors and what we do is we report what we see on election day and it’s important that we don’t get involved in political discussions or give advice or opinions during that so we watch and anything we see we report in detailed forms – good or bad – and then those are compiled in a report on election day so it’s very narrow in that in are just doing the election today.

Gutierrez: He is right, what he is anything it is correct. We assemble on Election Day. We don’t know what happened in the election campaign. We just know what happened here today and what we saw today is like everything is okay, it’s transparent and all the democratic guarantees are okay. We went to different polling stations, I had been to 12 to 15, 20 different polling stations and I realised everything happening there is the same thing that is happening in the polling stations in our polling stations in country.

Kaminski: I had the same experience.

Our mission is watching and I had been in 12 different polling stations. I observed the procedure of the voting, I observed behavior, members of the election committee and in this point of view, technical voting everything was absolutely correct and professional and transparent and it works.

Downe: Tonight, for example we’re going back before eight o’ clock before closing.

We’re randomly picking a poll, we’re going to it and we’re going and making sure that the seal in the box is the same seal that we recorded in the morning that all the parties have representatives there, that the counting of the ballots is transparent and open and recorded, everybody can see the ballot and we’re doing

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that tonight. We’re living here to go out to a poll, nobody knows which poll, we just show up and then we fill another form and report that, if there is any problems or not.

NE: So you randomly pick…

Downe: Yes, we randomly pick. We don’t broadcast where we are going, the drivers and interpreters don’t know, we just say we want to go there.

Gutierrez: And you know something happens which doesn’t happen to my country, for example, they have a voting box for persons that are sick so they cannot go to their poling station so they go thre to their home and they pick up their vote. That’s very interesting – it’s like accessibility. It’s like going accessibility to all the polling stations.

Kaminski: And members of the election committee in every polling station are very helpful. They are not scared of us, we ask any question, how many people voted until our visit and all our questions will be answered.

NE: How were you drawn into this process?

Downe: By the European Academy for Elections Observation (EAEO). I met them originally when I was doing a mission in Albania and they said, ‘we have other election

The 27 Polling Station at the AFFA Bayil Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015.

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missions if you’re interested let us know and I said, ‘sure’. Occasionally, it is not always easy to go away because you responsibilities in your home country.

Gutierrez: I’m a member of the Council of Europe so I’m very interested.

Downe: I should mention as well, that I’m a member of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association and in that capacity, of course, I go to Strasbourg for their meetings and that was an interest as well for the group here because it is the European election monitoring issue and I’m a European (laughs); European plus others.

Kaminski: Our mission has 106 members. We have visited from 12 to 15 maybe more polling stations and we observe and I think much more members of our mission have a very similar opinion of this election.

NE: 106 members...

Kaminski: Only from European Academy...

Downe: There are hundreds of others from different groups.

NE: You all three are also from the European Academy of Elections Observation.

Downe: Yes - 106. There are other groups here; there is hundreds of this group and hundreds of that group… On the plane coming in I met two Mexicans, I don’t know which group but we were chatting and they were here for the election as well but they were not from our group.

NE: Poland, Spain and Canada, each country has a different interest in Azerbaijan.

Downe: In Canada for stability. We want functioning democracies anyever that happens. Poland is a prime example of what happens when a country turns the corner. The had difficult time after the Second World War and we consider them a great success. Canada has many other countries contribute to that, same principle here.

NE: Poland seems to be interested in energy diversification. EU Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič has repeatedly talked about diversification.

Kaminski: It is true. Azerbaijan is a very important country, especially in energy. But it is a different discussion.

Gutierrez: We see today about Azerbaijan elections and they are guaranteed democratic, free and transparent. It is good for democratic Europe. It’s more Europe, so that’s much better.

Chinjij Mardanov, head of the 27 Polling Station, sprays the hand of one of the voters with ink, at the AFFA Bayil Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015. “The process was beautiful,” he said in English.

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‘Azerbaijan is one of the most stable European countries’

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zerbaijan is one of the most stable European countries in a unique geopolitical position, Tadeusz Iwiński, a Polish parliamentarian who represents the Democratic Left Alliance at PACE, a co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan, told New Europe in Baku.

“Azerbaijan is in a very difficult geopolitical situation between the West and Russia and given the situation of refugees this is the most stable country in Caucasus in such unstable environment. I’m not saying that this situation should result in putting a small emphasis on the human rights issue. But this is for sure a unique situation and I’m regretting that the general typical, most popular approach towards Azerbaijan is that of the human rights,” Iwiński said, who has been a member of The Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe since the beginning of 1992.

“Even during such an event like 2012 Eurovision song contest or last year when Azerbaijan was for the first time chairing the Council of Europe, it was rather narrow approach to this country. Not taking the considering all the reasons,” Iwiński said.

“This is a European country but has several peculiarities. Firstly, this is a Muslim country but it’s secular,” he said, adding that this is important “at a time of at the time when we hear about Islamization”.

“This is linked to the issue of refugees because following the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azerbaijan between 1992 and 1994, Azerbaijan lost roughly

20 percent of its territory that is being occupied by Armenia so there is a so-called Minsk process to try to solve that but it is without any result so it’s interesting because two weeks ago I read a public opinion poll published by a very serious American firm – Finkelstein - taken here between September and October about the what are the main problems of Azerbaijan and on the first place was the issue of occupied territories. The economic problems were secondary,” he said.

He said that Azerbaijan is the subject of many critics coming from the Council of Europe, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. “I’m one of the two rapporteurs on Azerbaijan” – of course we have criticised so many times the approach of the Baku authorities versus some NGOs and some human rights activists. I’m a member of the monitoring committee - two rapporteurs - we are coming here talking to everybody. We had met with all-important NGOs and activists and organise debates,” Iwiński said.

“I’m just saying that now is a problem of democratization but it’s not easy to make the distance because those issues are connected the human rights and the process of democratization but at the same time I would like to emphasise the unique situation of Azerbaijan - one million of refugees. It is rather oblivious that the rest of Europe that this is a country that has over 20 percent of its country occupied and secondly that it has more than one million

INTERVIEW

Tadeusz Iwiński, a Polish parliamentarian who represents the Democratic Left Alliance at PACE, a co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan, spoke to New Europe in Baku.

I see enormous progress from the point of standard of living and, of course, Baku is a sort of the ‘Caucasian Paris’ but also the province is being changed. refugees - IDPs. Thirdly, I’m a scholar, I’m a professor, I’m not a great advocate of the geopolitical approach but this is a country that is bordering with Russia and it is not ready to cooperate with Russia in that framework of the Eurasian structure. It is bordering with Iran, 20 or even 30 million of the people in Iran are Azerbaijanis,” he said. In Azerbaijan the current population is 9.417 million.

He also highlighted the importance of Azerbaijan for EU energy security. “It’s true that Europe – not in a sense trying

The Polling Station Number 14 at the 110 kindergarten on Abbasov Street in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015.

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to distance itself from Russia – but trying to be more independent in the sphere of energy cannot do without Azerbaijan,” he Iwiński said.

“The crisis as the price of the oil is having a very negative effect not only on Russia but Azerbaijan. But despite that situation they are doing quite well,” he said.

“Also having the idea to organise Islamic sport games and not only European sports games and being here from time to time since the end of 1990s, I see enormous progress from the point of standard of living and, of course, Baku is a sort of the ‘Caucasian Paris’ but also the province is being changed,” he said.

Turning back to the issues concerning Azerbaijani citizens, Iwiński said Nagorno-Karaback and occupied territories “is absolutely number one - that issue that elapsed more than 20 years and nothing changed. On the other hand, in that also around 80% are saying – I was even impressed – that the present leadership given the priorities are of the opinion that present leadership is operating good,” he said.

He said, “people do care” about the parliamentary elections. “For instance almost nobody knows that, it’s very low the threshold for being a candidate for MP – 450 signatures - so even in such small country, 450 signatures to run for MP,” he said. “Theoretically there is a possibility for anybody to run but unfortunately the opposition is not united. You have ‘too many chiefs, not enough Indians,’ as they say. They started to unite themselves but the advantage of the ruling party is very big,” he said.

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Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections should be example for region T he parliamentary election in Azerbaijan should be an example for the whole region, said Claude Monique, head of the observation mission from the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center.

He made the remarks during the press conference on the results of the parliamentary election held on November 1 in Azerbaijan.

The election was held in compliance with all western norms, according to the observer.

He noted that the voting process was well organized and all necessary conditions were created in all polling stations.

The ESISC observation mission consisting of eight members visited six constituencies and 100 polling stations in Baku, Sumgayit and Khirdalan.

Meanwhile, the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM) said the election day of the deputies of the Parliament of Azerbaijan was organised and held in accordance with international commitments.

The Group of observers from Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development was invited to monitor the Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Azerbaijan, which took place on November 1, 2015. The shortterm Group included Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ivan Krulko, Deputy of the Parliament of Georgia, Zurab

Claude Monique, head of the observation mission from the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, at the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel in Baku, November 1, 2015 NEW EUROPE/KG

Abashidze, and GUAM Secretary General Valery Chechelashvili, who coordinated activities of the Group of Observers.

Based on the results gathered based on observing 20 (twenty) polling sites in the 8th, 15th, 118th, 122th, 124th and 125th electoral precincts of the city of Baku, and 7 (seven) polling sites and in the 42nd and 44th electoral precincts of the city of Sumgayit, the Group of GUAM Observers decided to issue the following statement: “The election day of the deputies of the Parliament of the

Republic of Azerbaijan was organised and held in accordance with international commitments and standards for democratic elections, as well as in accordance with national legislation, the rules and procedures elaborated by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” it said.

“With respect to the organization of the elections and the activities of the commissions at polling sites, the group of GUAM observers has no significant remarks. Shortcomings identified at some polling sites could not

The Flame Towers at magic hour in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, November 3, 2015.

affect the results of the vote,” the statement said.

The elections of November 1, 2015, took place in the spirit of calm and, in general, can be evaluated positively – as being both free and fair.”

Meanwhile, a Turkish observer said that the election in Azerbaijan was successfully held in accordance with international norms and standards and principles of democracy.

Akkan Suver, head of the observation mission from Turkish Marmara Group Strategic and Social Research Foundation said, “Equipping precincts with web cameras is another evidence of transparency of the election”.

Azerbaijan is an example of democracy in the Turkic world, which showed the world an example of democratic election, Suver said and congratulated Azerbaijani people on the successful election.

Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador to Baku Mohsen Pak Ayeen said on November 3 that the fact that Azerbaijan’s parliamentary election was held in a peaceful atmosphere is going to boost the country’s stability.

“Despite some foreign efforts to imply that there was tension during the election, the independent reports indicate that the election has been held peacefully,” Pak Ayeen said.

“Baku’s resistance to unjustified pressure from the West proved that some Western coun-

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tries’ policy to dictate and exert pressure is ineffective,” he noted.

Azerbaijan held the parliamentary elections on November 1.

“ODIHR’s principles are by no means “golded’, and they are treated very freely, whereas there should be clear and transparent rules for monitoring, equal for all the countries to the east and west of Vienna,” Tass quoted Andrey Kelin, head of the Department of European Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry in an interview.

According to Kelin, who is also a Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OSCE in Vienna, the refusal of OSCE ODIHR to send observers to the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan came as a big surprise. “The situation with ODIHR looks very strange.

For example, only two experts went to monitor elections in Germany, however about 600 people were expected to monitor elections in Kyrgyzstan.”

The Russian diplomat said that the same situation occurred in Belarus and in Azerbaijan, when Baku sought to limit the number of ODIHR observers.

“Similar situation has occurred in the past. There is nothing new,” the diplomat said, adding that there is no need for “troops of observers”. According to Kelin, ODIHR’s refusal to come to Azerbaijan proves a prejudice of this organisation.

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Observers praise election fought on issues that matter to Azerbaijanis A

by Martin Banks

zerbaijani voters have overwhelmingly returned the ruling New Azerbaijan Party in Sunday’s Parliamentary elections.

It was a surprising outcome perhaps, to European insiders but totally consistent with the findings of international pollsters and one that has been accepted by international election monitors.

While Western politicians and the media have bemoaned the lack of political freedom in the oil-rich nation and the pace of political reform, voters told international polling giants America’s Arthur J. Finkelstein & Associates and France’s Opinion way that the continued occupation or Nagorno-Karabakh, the refugee crisis, and regional security in such a volatile region were the “issues that mattered most to them.”

Sixty to seventy per cent of voters found these to be the decisive issues and, as the outcome of the election suggests, they trusted the present government – made up of New Azerbaijan Party candidates and independents that vote with them - as the best option to steer them through these challenges.

George Birnbaum, Executive Director of Arthur J. Finkelstein & Associates, noted ahead of the poll that the Azerbaijani voters clearly had a different view of what matters than that seemingly held by the rest of the world.

“Economic security mattered less to (opinion polls) respondents than security.

Voters tend to support those who keep them safe,” he said.

By Monday, the New Azerbaijan Party was on course to be returned with 74 to 75 per cent of the vote in an election that the

Soldiers prepare to vote at the 22 Polling Station at Number 7 School on Uzeyir Hajibeyli Street, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Strasbourgbased Council of Europe (PACE) observer delegation found to have been “peaceful and professional.”

The Election Observation Mission, comprised of 28 members and was led by Jordi Xuclà (Spain, ALDE).

PACE was invited by the Azerbaijani authorities to monitor the parliamentary elections. The members were deployed in several areas of the country and the capital, Baku, and observed in a wide number of polling stations. PACE concluded that the elections were held in accordance with the Election Code of Azerbaijan, which provides a legal framework for the democratic conduct of elections.

After observing election day on Sunday, PACE concluded in a statement on Monday that the “the significant increase in voter turnout and the transparency of voting and counting procedures demonstrate another step forward taken by the Republic of Azerbaijan towards free, fair and democratic elections and that the results of this vote express the will of the Azerbaijani people.”

The PACE delegation noted that the European Parliament, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE/ODIHR had refused to deploy their own observation missions but the PACE delegates welcomed the chance to observe alongside other groups that also endorsed the conduct of the poll.

In a statement, PACE said, “it is the consensus of this mission that election day was calm and peaceful across the country.

“The voting process was observed to be adequate and generally in line with international standards. Voters had full and unimpeded access to polling stations and there were no incidents reported by the observers.

“The observation mission therefore congratulates the Azerbaijani people for their peaceful and orderly conduct during this electoral process. The Central Election Commission contributed to the transparency of the process by releasing updates from the opening of the polls until the end of the counting and tabulation of the results.” The statement went on, “no acts of pressure on voters or any other incidents in or near the polling stations were observed. There was no police presence around the polling stations or any campaign and electoral materials nearby.

“A welcome development was the introduction of web cameras in 20 per cent of polling stations, as specifically requested by the Venice Commission.”

Veteran Austrian election observer and member of the European Academy of Election Observation, Wolfgang Grossruck, told the media in Baku on Monday that his group had found no interference with the electoral process, adding: “I want to stress that in general, the election was held at a high level.”

“The votes were counted transparently and there were no problems,” he said.

The PACE delegation’s reference to those who stayed away is a none-to-subtle dig at OSCE/ODIHR. The PACE team believe that while Azerbaijan still has some shortcomings, it is better to remain engaged, and turn up for such important events, than to cut it off completely.

Political system of Azerbaijan successfully passes the first test during elections The head of the Center of Caucasus Studies under the RSUH, Associate Professor of MSU History Department Ismail Agakishiyev, and the Director General of the MSU IAC, Sergey Rekeda, predicted the post-election processes in Azerbaijan.

“If we compare the parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2015, two aspects are obvious.

First of all, the international atmosphere in which the election campaign took place was much more complicated and contradictory than it was five years ago.

The second factor is that the internal stability of the Azerbaijani political system is going through a serious challenge, and it has managed to succeed in this. There were no such foreign risks for any of post-Soviet republics in 2010. I mean the economic situation and the security sphere. Thus, the question is not only about who wins the elections or which deputies take parliamen-

tary mandates, but also about the agenda which the MPs of the new parliament will work with, what political and economic issues will be in the focus of the Azerbaijani elite’s attention in the next 5-7 years. In fact, we have received a clear answer to the question. It is the presidential program – the struggle against corruption, development of the non-oil sector, attraction of foreign investment, achievement of the necessary level of transparency in the work of officials and bureaucrats,” Rekeda believes.

Agakishiyev thinks that the question about the foreign context is important for the elections: “Azerbaijan takes the most important position in regional politics, it is trying to provide an independent foreign policy.

And elections are always a stress for postSoviet societies. And the West is testing Baku – statements by MPs of the Eu-

ropean parliament, heavy criticism by American senators, urges and resolutions.

These days a critical situation is developing in Moldova, a clash between society and the authorities. And what? Silence! All the attention is focused on the elections in Azerbaijan. The selectivity of tactics and double standards are obvious. As a result, representatives of the OSCE didn’t come to observe the elections, the PACE sent 30 observers. At the same time, more than 490 international observers followed the elections, 150 of them were from the CIS. These are decent figues.”

According to Sergey Rekeda, “the point is not that double standards have turned into an essence of European policy in the South Caucasus. The problem is that statements and declarations by European MPs are forming an image of an alternative in Azerbaijani politics, i.e. the local opposition. But

the political situation in the country shows that there is no real opposition in the country. This fact was clear in the last presidential elections. And this time the intellectual poverty of the opponents of the regime has been hightlighted to the maximum. The situation was the usual one: some of the opposition refused to participate in the elections; others presented a standard set of demands to the authorities – without any clear answer to the question: what must be done for this?

How should they move toward democracy and prosperity by other means and methods? You won’t find an answer to this question in any program by the opposition; there are only personal criticisms of the President, ministers and the authorities in general. This can work once or twice, but we read one and the same program every election campaign – the authorities are unfair. And what’s next?

No reply.”

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US consultants, observers hail Parliamentary elections Jason Katz, the principal of the U.S.-based Tool Shed Group, a consultancy that advises foreign governments, including the government of Azerbaijan, has hailed the parliamentary elections in the country as “very transparent”. “I think that the elections were extremely well organised,” AZERTAC quoted Katz, who is also the former head of Public Affairs for the American Jewish Committee in Los Angeles, in an interview, who visited Azerbaijan as a member of an election observation mission.

“I had the opportunity this morning to visit four separate polling places as part of the larger delegation of observers.

I was impressed. I think that the process was very open, extremely organized. And I think there were some aspects of your election process that we in America can also learn from. Particularly the spraying of the hand to prevent multiple voting. I thought that was brilliant.” He hailed the preparedness of workers at polling stations. “I think that the poll workers were extremely well trained, better than most of our poll workers in America, in fact. They knew exactly how the process worked. Any questions that the actual voters had, they readily answered, they answered all of my questions, and those of my colleagues. I think that there were very transparent elections.

There was no question that I posed to the election workers or the election commission representatives that was not answered in an honest and forthright manner.”

Katz applauded Azerbaijan’s role in ensuring energy security of Europe. “It is in the US interests to see energy diversity and energy security in Europe, and Azerbaijan is the linchpin to that. The Shahdeniz gas deposits coming from Caspian through Baku terminating in Turkey and then spurs of pipelines into Europe itself is absolutely within the foreign policy agen-

View in front of the Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration building in capital Baku, November 3, 2015.

da of the United States.”

He also hailed Baku’s contribution to the US-led international anti-terror war and peacekeeping operations.

“Azerbaijani soldiers have served shoulder to shoulder with Americans in Bosnia, in Iraq. The only reason why there aren’t any Azerbaijani troops in Iraq is because the United States pulled out of Iraq.

In Afghanistan, Azerbaijan has had troops for years. And I think that’s indicative of the relationship between the United States and Azerbaijan. The fact that our soldiers fight together and our peacekeeping missions are together shows camaraderie and closeness between the two nations.”

Katz praised tolerance in Azerbaijan. “I think Azerbaijan is an extremely tolerant society to all ethnicities, religions. There are Christians, Jews, Sunnis, Shia, all liv-

A man votes at the Polling Station Number 14 at the 110 kindergarten on Abbasov Street in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015.

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ing together in Azerbaijan. No one fights.

There is no revolution amongst the ethnic groups, religious groups and it’s been like that for centuries. Strictly in terms of Jews, the Jews of Guba can trace their lineage back 2500 years, to the Babylonian exile.

That’s a very very long time. And they are the first to tell you that they’ve lived there for 2500 years with no traces of anti-Semitism, no strife with their Muslim neighbors. It’s also very interesting to talk to the Ashkenazi Jews, the more European Jews that are living in Baku.”

He also commented on the ArmenianAzerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“I think that’s the biggest threat that Armenian troops are actually in NagornoKarabakh and they’re firing across the border to Azerbaijani troops. And the Azerbaijani troops have no choice but to respond. That’s a scary scenario. I think that if Armenia pulls back their troops from Nagorno-Karabakh, it will do a lot for the prospects of peace. In terms of settling Nagorno-Karabakh, clearly, every international organization from the UN to the Council of Europe to OSCE recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part and parcel of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It’s not an independent nation recognized by anybody. It’s not part of Armenian territory.

It is Azerbaijan. At some point it’s going to need to be given back. The problem is that Nagorno-Karabakh is more seen as a geo-political issue, and the human aspect of this issue is lost. There are a million people who were ethnically cleansed from Nagorno-Karabakh, they were either murdered, or were forcibly removed from Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions

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around it and they have lived as an internally displaced people inside Azerbaijan.

The people want to go home, and I don’t blame them.” “Armenia has maintained for many years that Nagorno-Karabakh is an independent republic. But it’s not recognized by anybody as an independent republic, not even Armenia.”

Katz also shared his views about Azerbaijan`s accomplishments. “The development of Azerbaijan has been amazing. On the business side of it, Azerbaijan has deep ties to both America and the European countries. But just in terms of the development of society, the government has done quite superlative job building the civil structures necessary for a stable nation and emerging democracy.”

Meanwhile, Joe Baca, former Californian congressman, an independent observer from the US, said the election is being held without any violations and meets all the standards.

“We haven’t so far found any negative cases with regard to the election. People are voting actively, which is very pleasing,” Trend quoted Baca as saying. “Some even come with their children, and that is good, because people start from an early age to understand what elections are and how important they are.”

He further thanked the members of election commissions, observers, and media representatives. “This work is very important and it motivates people to take part in the elections,” said Baca, adding that he is very glad to watch the democracy in Azerbaijan.

The American observer has visited eight polling stations in Baku.

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Election Center Identification (mostly schools) in Quba.

Quba election notes: A trip to the border zone

A New Europe team visited the northern Azerbaijani town of Quba on November 1.

With a population of around 38,000, Quba ranks as one ofAzerbaijan’s larger provincial towns. Near the Russian border and straddling the main route to north from Baku, Quba is notable center of Azerbaijan’s carpet production and has a strong reputation for high quality agricultural products. Quba also has a significant population of so-called “mountain Jews” who have resettled there after generations of residence in the nearby highlands.

We visited two polling centers (schools) in the town in the middle of the day to get a sense of the out-of capital action. We followed the procedures laid out for observers from the European Academy for Elections Observation, also based in Brussels, but we encountered none of them. There were no visible irregularities at the stations we visited but we still note a few key observations:

1. Polling stations appeared far less active than we expected – we rarely saw voters in groups larger than 2; 2. Election authorities were extremely cordial when we appeared -- all questions were answered thoroughly and without obfuscation; 3. Election authorities were extremely diligent in recording observers’ names and identification data, and in one case a local commission member came close to “being in our faces;” 4. Most election centers had video cameras installed for remote monitoring, although we have no idea if the gear was actually working; 5. We saw no media at the stations we visited; 6. We encountered no security issues of any kind; 7. Sadly, nobody approached us to discuss the conduct of the elections, something one of our team has frequently seen in other countries’ elections;

Election Center count, at mid-day.

8. We were courteously escorted out of the polling stations in all cases.

9. Nobody approached us or signaled us that they were thankful we had showed up, again something often seen in other countries, especially when observers from the local political parties are based in the polling stations.

We are not going to give the November 1 election the award for Europe’s biggest yawn, but the fact is that our fairly experienced observer group found little to write home about. We were most impressed by the pride we saw in the Quba election officials about the anti-fraud detection system – invisible ink applied to each voter’s thumb.

Election Center roll call (list), voters not listed here need to check the rolls in other nearby centers.

The “Eye in the Sky,” one of 1500 web-cameras installed in election centers for this election. Using these cameras, the Central Election Commission was monitoring and recording the action across the country.

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A Quba voter receiving a dose of invisible ink to prevent double voting.

Instructions for using the invisible ink detector, used to prevent double voting.

NOVEMBER 2015

A close up of the ink application process. You didn’t see a thing, did you?

Isaak Yanukov school in Quba where New Europe witnessed the elections November 1, 2015.

An Election Center in Quba.

Albert Aqarunovic, an Azeri Jew and national hero who died fighting in the early days of fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, is prominently commemorated at this school (Election Center.)

Election booths in Azerbaijan.

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Nagorno Karabakh, security key issues for voters

survey from respected American polling firm Arthur Finkelstein showed that Armenia’s occupation of Nagorno Karabakh and security are the key issues for voters.

George Birnbaum, Executive Director of Arthur Finkelstein, reportedly said that Nagorno Karabakh has been named as the overwhelming issue facing the nation. “It remains a highly emotive issue that pervades all aspects of politics and government in ways many observers in the West simply don’t understand.”

According to the poll, 41.3% chose Nagorno-Karabakh as the most important issue facing voters, a region which “along with seven surrounding territories continues to be occupied by Armenia in defiance of international resolutions calling for an

immediate withdrawal.” It also notes that 77.1% said that the country is moving in the right direction.

On the geo-political front, 81.7% of respondents agreed that “Azerbaijan is an island of stability in a region where most countries are unstable” and that the government is well placed to prevent the immigration crisis from spilling into Azerbaijan.

More than 80% also believe that the country’s leadership has protected the nation against terror.

Recent reports suggested that Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev rode his strong handling of this issue and the country’s consistently strong economic performance to a commanding victory two years ago.

They note that Azerbaijanis place enormous importance “on the fact that a fifth of their coun-

Voters want representatives to keep fighting for the return of Nagorno Karabakh.

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try is occupied; that a million men, women and children have been displaced from their homes for over twenty years; and that the motivations that inspire electoral returns in other countries pale next to being under constant siege from a Russian ally sitting in, and not merely at, one’s front door.”

According to international affairs portal CXSSSR: “Unsurprisingly poll respondents gave high marks to the government for its handling of the situation, which has brought Armenia’s illegal acts to the attention of international fora that would have otherwise ignored them.” Nearly three quarters of voters support the New Azerbaijan Party and given that undecided voters tend to break their support between incumbents and challengers, this means that New Azerbaijan can expect greater than eighty percent support in the elections, which will likely cement their majority.

“It is easy to conclude from our poll that voters want more of the same,” Birnbaum said. “They want political and economy stability; they want to be kept safe

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev rode his strong handling of this issue and the country’s consistently strong economic performance to a commanding victory two years ago.

EPA/MOURAD BALTI

from terror; and they want their elected representatives to keep fighting for the return of Nagorno Karabakh.”

For decades, the West’s approach has been to hope the whole matter goes away on its own with the passage of time, despite innumerable resolutions and demands for Armenia to end its aggression by international bodies from the United Nations down.

The issue has not receded from Azerbaijan’s collective consciousness any more than an open wound on a human body would. Next month, Azerbaijan votes; and its heart and head will be in a storied province, stolen but not yet lost.

British MEP Sajjad Karim

said Azerbaijan is frustrated with the lack of progress over Nagorno-Karabakh. “It feels that, far too often, the international community disregards the challenges it has had to face in the aftermath of this war in terms of refugees and internally displaced persons.

It is true that the international community has probably not been as active as it could have been in solving this protracted conflict which is still, as we speak, claiming lives,” he said.

The international community considers Nagorno-Karabakh part of Azerbaijan and that negotiations about the territory continue, most recently in New York at a meeting between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Voters arrive at the 22 Polling Station at Number 7 School on Uzeyir Hajibeyli Street, Baku, Azerbaijan, November 1, 2015. According to surveys, voters want representatives to keep fighting for the return of Nagorno Karabakh.

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Azerbaijan’s Strategic Importance for Europe and the Parliamentary Elections

by Ilgar Gurbanov

An expert-consultant at the Centre for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

R

egardless of suffering of occupation from very near neighbourhood in early independence, Azerbaijan, by virtue of its vast energy resources and addressing them rationally, managed to achieve quite rapid economic development. The country, regardless of geopolitical situation in the region, however, is still able to run its foreign policy in a balanced manner without sacrificing its neither national interests nor pragmatic relations with near and far neighbours.

Meanwhile, huge energy reserves of Azerbaijan in the Caspian basin, as well as its favourable geographical location render the country a strategic energy pivot for Europe.

Since the independence, the EU and Azerbaijan have been cooperating closely in many areas, including within the framework of European Neighbourhood Policy and Eastern Partnership. The post-Soviet Azerbaijan consolidated its strategic significance by inking “The Deal of Century” in 1994, which paved a way for the Caspian oil to the world markets following the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The BTC pipeline, with daily 1 million barrels throughput capacity, pumps the Azerbaijani oil from Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea through Georgian territories to Turkey’s Ceyhan port in the Mediterranean Sea. The second grandiose project was the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, which brings Azerbaijani gas of Shah Deniz field to Georgia and Turkey as of 2006. Following the failure of Nabucco project, which was to start from Turkey-Georgia borders and lead to Europe, Azerbaijan and Turkey jointly initiated the “Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline” project in June 2012. Consequently, they did not let the “Southern Gas Corridor” concept fail. TANAP substituted the eastern flank of Nabucco pipeline, meanwhile shortened it to “Nabucco-West”. However, because of lack of enough financing and coordination, “Nabucco-West” lost versus “Trans-Adriatic Pipeline”; latter has been chosen as a final leg of Southern Gas Corridor to transfer Azerbaijani gas from TANAP to Europe through Greek, Albanian and Italian territories.

However, the significance of Azerbaijan should not be bounded to the cliché of “oil and gas pumping country for Europe” only.

A bridge-like geographical position between Central Asia and Europe facilitates not only energy transportation but also transportation of non-lethal stuffs and military personnel to/from Afghanistan for NATO military missions.

View of Azerbaijan’s modern capital Baku, November 2, 2015. Azerbaijan has managed to achieve quite rapid economic development.

NEW EUROPE/KG

Notwithstanding, Azerbaijan faces the EU’s adamant manner and normative criticism. While, the EU prioritizes the imposition of fundamental values in its structural foreign policy with partner countries, Azerbaijan’s first foreign policy priority remains the “Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”, though no active role of the EU was observed so far therein. The occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories (Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent regions) by Armenia remains a main obstacle to increasing stability and prosperity in the region. Azerbaijan hopes for equal partnership without a strict conditionality clause. Therefore, Azerbaijan prefers to distinguish political (human rights and democratization) and strategic dimension (Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and energy security) of relations with EU. In this regard, Azerbaijan proposed a country-specific new cooperation model - “Strategic Partnership Agreement” - alternative to the EU’s Association Agreement, embracing the strategic issues and a guarantee for territorial integrity, to upgrade the relations with the EU. However, recently a certain group of politicians with anti-Azerbaijani bias in the European Parliament has initiated a Motion for Resolution against Azerbaijan, which called for the suspension of negotia-

tions on “Strategic Partnership Agreement” between the EU and Azerbaijan; however, the EU launched the negotiations for the same agreement with Armenia, meanwhile a member of Eurasian Economic Union.

The Resolution also stipulated the specific sanctions for Azerbaijan. While, the EU imposed sanctions over Russia and certain Russian officials because of Ukraine crisis, no single sanctions have been imposed over Armenia (as well as separatist leaders in Karabakh) because of its ongoing occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories and triggering the separatism there. That was definitely a disappointing moment for EU-Azerbaijani relations. Because, Azerbaijan is not pleased of double standards or being put in the same basket with Armenia. Therefore, in response, Azerbaijan’s Parliament has passed a Resolution implying the suspension of its participation in the “Euronest” Parliamentary Assembly.

The Resolution of European Parliament also urged not to send the EU’s Election Observation Mission for November 2015 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. Although, the EU and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights refused to send an observer mission for the

parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, more than 500 observers from international organizations, including Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Commonwealth of Independent States, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, Turkic Council and other organizations have observed the elections. The elections also hosted around 66.000 local observers. Regardless of condemnations from external voices, the parliamentary elections passed smoothly, confirmed by the international observers as well. Reportedly, 767 candidates had run in the parliamentary elections for 125 seats in the Milli Majlis (National Parliament of Azerbaijan). The electoral law enables all of the candidates to conduct their pre-electoral campaigns freely on an equal basis, by meeting their voters and through social media and other media outlets.

Nonetheless, the EU should continue its efforts to work more closely with official Baku for Azerbaijan’s modernization and transformation, in the areas of good governance, elections, rule of law or diversification of the country’s economy, rather than isolate it by statements. Actually, Azerbaijani leadership lately, in their turn, embarked on more reforms within the government itself.

Thus, the structural changes within power and law enforcement structures, including the dismissal of those who allegedly involved in corruption and other racketeering issues; the facilitation of granting entrepreneurship licences by transferring it from the Ministry of Economic Development to the “ASAN Service” State Agency, the most transparent public entity; and simplification of the customs inspections etc. are the good gestures for ongoing reforms within country.

Finally, instead of declaratory endeavours, Azerbaijan expects more active role of the EU in a peaceful solution of the “NagornoKarabakh conflict”, which has also social impact over the population. Thus, the latest poll, conducted by French research company OpinionWay, says that the “Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” is considered the most important problem by 66.5% of voters, followed by the economy with 30%.

Oil pumps in Baku, Azerbaijan. Huge energy reserves of Azerbaijan in the Caspian basin, as well as its favourable geographical location render the country a strategic energy pivot for Europe.

EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

ERIC CUVILLIER