Doc. 8918 Addendum II

22 January 2001

Ad hoc Committee to observe the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan (re-run of 7 January 2001)

Addendum II to the report

Bureau of the Assembly

Rapporteur: Mr Guillermo Martínez Casañ, Spain, EPP/CD

Link to the doc. 8918

A.        Introduction

1.       At the invitation of the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic, and pursuant to the view expressed in Opinion N° 222 on the accession of the country to the Council of Europe, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly set up an ad hoc committee to observe the parliamentary elections held on 5 November 2000. A report of the above-mentioned elections was approved by the Bureau on 14 December 2000 (Doc.8918).

2.       In the light of serious irregularities observed and recorded on 5 November elections, the Central Election Commission and the Constitutional Court cancelled results in 11 constituencies. A decision was taken to hold repeat elections in the single-mandate constituencies concerned.

3.       The Bureau of the Assembly decided, on 14 December 2000, to send a delegation to observe the re-runs of the election in the 11 districts in question. The ad hoc committee was composed on the basis of the delegation which observed the elections on 5 November 2000:

- Mr Andreas Gross, Switzerland, SOC, Chairman

- Mr Guillermo Martinez-Casañ, Spain, EPP/CD, Rapporteur

- Mr András Bársony, Hungary, SOC

- Mr Jacques Baumel, France, EDG, Rapporteur for the accession

- Mr Tom Cox, United Kingdom, SOC

- Mr Björn von der Esch, Sweden, EPP/CD

- Ms Jenny Jones, United Kingdom, SOC

- Mr Manfred Müller, Germany, UEL

- Ms Vera Squarcialupi, Italy, SOC

- Mr John D. Taylor, United Kingdom, EPP/CD

- Mr Luis Yanez-Barnuevo, Spain, SOC

- Mr Benno Zierer, Germany, EPP/CD

Mr Valdimir Dronov and Ms Marine Trévisan provided secretarial support.

4.       On 16 and 17 December 2000, the Chairman and Rapporteur of the ad hoc committee made a fact-finding visit to Baku jointly with Ms Asta Joahnnesdottir, member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observer team and Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann, Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The Council of Europe/OSCE delegation met with the President of the Republic, the Head of Presidential Administration, the Speaker of the Parliament, the Central Election Commission and leaders of the major opposition parties (Musavat, National Independence Party (ANIP) and Popular Front).

5.       The joint delegation met twice with President Aliyev and agreed on several issues related to the parliamentary elections. The date of the re-run, initially due to take place on 4 January 2001, was changed to Sunday 7 January, so allowing to extend the deadline for the registration of candidates and to improve the participation of international observers.

6.       The meeting with representatives of the Musavat Party, the Popular Front and the ANIP enlightened the delegation on the real weight of those parties in the political landscape of the country.

7.       The Council of Europe/OSCE delegation secured a commitment by the President Aliyev that all complaints filed by the opposition parties on election infringements would be re-examined as well as the cases of two ANIP senior officials arrested following a demonstration held in Sheki on 18 November 2000. It was also agreed that aggregated results at all level would be promptly published. Furthermore, partisan and non-partisan domestic observers, including from parties not participating in the re-run, would be allowed in polling stations. Finally, democratic and transparent re-runs of the election would be conducted with an honest report on the turnout.

8.       The ad hoc committee visited Azerbaijan from 5 to 9 January 2001. Its programme is reproduced in Appendix II.

B.        Background

i.        Follow-up of the 5 November ballot

9.       The ad hoc committee welcomed the prompt response of the authorities to the irregularities observed during the 5 November ballot as reported by international observers and the decision to cancel the results in 11 constituencies and to dismiss some officials responsible for the violations.

10.       The CEC eventually dismissed all Chairpersons and some members of the Territorial Election Commission (TEC) where the election results were cancelled. Moreover, on 27 November, President Aliyev issued a Decree dismissing three Heads of local executive powers for having interfered in the electoral process.

11.       However, the ad hoc committee regretted that the repeat elections concerned only the single-mandate constituencies which left about 500 000 voters for the nationwide proportional ballot disenfranchised.

12.       The Central Election Commission (CEC) received 327 complaints alleging serious violations on 5 November ballot. Complaints regarding major irregularities, i.e. falsifications of documents or rigging of results, were sent to the Prosecutor’s General Office, who thereupon initiated criminal proceedings in three constituencies.

13.       The remaining were adjudicated by the CEC or sent back to Territorial Election Commissions. As from 22 November, the date of the announcement of official results by the Constitutional Court, no more complaints could be considered by appeal institutions.

14.       According to the OSCE/ODIHR Observation Mission in Azerbaijan, the election disputes resolution process through the election commissions and the courts lacked adequate transparency and did not comply with requirements of the rule of Law.

15.       The ad hoc committee, although understanding their legitimate reasons, regretted the decision by the main opposition parties to boycott the repeat elections. The opposition who won only 10 seats in the Parliament during the 5 November ballot, claimed that the repeat elections would do nothing to rectify the fraudulent 5 November ballot.

16.       On 14 November, six opposition parties signed an agreement to boycott the newly elected Parliament and to call for the holding of new elections. Concerning the re-run of the elections, the opposition did not come to an agreement. The Popular Front and the Civil Solidarity decided to take part in the repeat elections, whereas Musavat, the Democratic Party, the National Independence Party (ANIP) and the Liberal Party decided to boycott it. However, three of the ten candidates of the ANIP disregarded their party’s instruction to withdraw and did run the repeat elections. In some cases, certain opposition deputies were expelled from their party but remain in the Parliament.

17.       When meeting the representatives of the opposition (Musavat and ANIP), the ad hoc committee expressed its regrets concerning the decision of those opposition parties not to take part in the re-run. The leaders of these parties declared having no confidence in the re-run of elections which, according to them, will not lead to the creation of a truly representative Parliament. Unfortunately, this fear seems to be confirmed by the fact that the re-run did not concern the proportional system.

ii.       Registration of candidates

18.       Seventy-six candidates were registered for the 11 single-mandate constituencies. Among those 76 candidates, 39 were registered as independent candidates, while the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) registered 22 candidates. The opposition parties registered 10 candidates, which, despite the boycott, enable the opposition to be represented in 10 of the 11 constituencies.

19.       As an improvement over the 5 November ballot, the CEC showed more flexibility regarding the candidate registration process and addressed most complaints on candidates’ registration within the deadline envisaged by the Law.

20.       However, international observers remained concerned about the vulnerability of local election commissions, which again were subject to interference and pressure from local authorities.

C.       Election day

21.       On Election Day, polling took place in a calm and orderly manner. The ad hoc committee found a significant improvement in the voting and counting procedures in comparison with the 5 November ballot.

22.       In contrast with 5 November elections, observers had full access to all 11 TECs, including computer rooms and other areas where the tabulations took place.

23.       Electronic voting procedures were implemented on an experimental basis in 13 polling stations, with at least one per constituency. This process went very smoothly and our delegation commends Azerbaijani authorities for this effort to improve efficiency in the electoral process.

24.       However, some observers noted a number of irregularities (i.e. ballot box stuffing, lack of transparency and precision in the counting and tabulation process).

25.        Based on preliminary information on results of voting by single-mandate constituencies on re-elections to the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan provided by the CEC on 10 January 2001, the turnout was 49.57% and the 11 seats were filled in as follows: 4 opposition candidates, 5 NAP candidates, 1 member of a party supporting NAP and 1 independent candidate¹.

      D.       Conclusions

26.       During their meeting with President Aliyev on 8 January 2001, the Heads of delegations of the International Observer Mission, at which they were joined by the monitoring group from the Ministers’ Deputies (GT-suivi.Ago) expressed the opinion that although the repeat elections did not meet fully the international standards, the very holding of this repeat election represented a welcome development.

27.       This conclusion was presented during a joint Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the OSCE/ODIHR press conference held the day following the election. The joint statement is reproduced in Appendix 1.

28.       It was regretted that several opposition parties boycotted the re-run and pointed out that democracy can only be built through wide political participation in democratic institutions.

29.       Concerning future participation of the newly elected Parliament in the Assembly’s work, we strongly recommend that, in accordance with article 6.2 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Azerbaijani delegation be composed as to ensure a fair representation of the political parties or groups in the parliament. In this connection, President Aliyev had given the assurance that the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE would comprise 2 deputies from the majority party, 2 from the opposition and 2 independents.

30.       Moreover, we encourage Azerbaijani opposition to take an active part in the work of the new Azerbaijani delegation to the Assembly.

31.       The ad hoc committee recommends that the monitoring procedure by the Parliamentary Assembly should start immediately from the date of accession of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe. In this context, special attention should be given to the question of political prisoners.

32.       The Council of Europe should assist the country in reinforcing democratic institutions and, thereby, preventing radical political forces to bring instability or social agitation in the country.

33.       Concerning opposition parties, which decided either to remain outside of the Azerbaijani Parliament either not to take part in its work, the Parliamentary Assembly stress that democracy can only be build through wide political participation in such institutions.

34.       Finally, your rapporteur is of the opinion that the Parliamentary Assembly should assist Azerbaijan in reaching a situation where all political parties committed in promoting democracy, the rule of law and respect of Human Rights in Azerbaijan could be represented in the Parliament.

      APPENDIX II

Programme

of the ad hoc committee to observe the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan

(5-9 January 2001)

Friday 5 January 2001

Arrival in Baku

Saturday 6 January 2001

10.00       Meeting of the ad hoc committee

10.30       Meeting with OSCE/ODIHR Head of Mission, Ambassador Charles Magee

12.00       Meeting with the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Mr Mazahir Panahov

13.15       Meeting with representatives of political parties from opposition

(Musavat Party and National Independence Party (ANIP))

15.00       Meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament, Murtuz Aleskerov

16.00       Meeting with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr Heydar Aliyev

19.00       Meeting with Ambassadors of Council of Europe member States

20.30       Dinner hosted by the Head of the special guest delegation to the PACE

Sunday 7 January 2001

Observation of elections and the count

Monday 8 January 2001

9.30       Meeting of the ad hoc committee

10.15       Joint meeting with PACE and OSCE PA delegations and OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission

17.00       Joint press conference

Tuesday 9 January 2001

Departure from Baku

APPENDIX III

Preliminary Information on results of voting by single-mandate constituencies

on re-elections to the Milli Majlis

of the Republic of Azerbaijan, January 7, 2001

08.01.2001

Constituencies	Total number of voters by constituencies	Number of election precincts	Number of election precincts, provided information	Number of voters, participated in the voting
				Numbers	Percentage
	1	2	3	4	5
7 Yasamal II	34602	34	34	12407	35.86
9 Khatai I	45280	40	40	14008	30.94
10 Khatai II	45408	40	40	15206	33.49
38 Sumgayit I	46803	45	45	19919	42.56
51 Agsu-Kurdamir	40473	57	57	20819	51.44
53 Astara	47070	64	64	37223	79.08
56 Barda city	44925	48	48	20153	44.86
65 Gusar	44155	71	71	27917	63.23
68 Imishli	43077	50	50	26082	60.55
94 Hajigabul-Salyan	44355	45	45	26477	59.69
99 Shamkir city	49879	50	50	20730	41.56
Total	486027	544	544	240941	49.57

Preliminary Information on results of voting by single-mandate constituencies

on re-elections to the Milli Majlis

of the Republic of Azerbaijan, January 7, 2001

10.01.2001

Constituencies	Name, surname and patronimic of the candidate which has most votes	Party belonging	Number of voters participated in the voting	Number of votes, for the candidate
				Numbers	Percentage
	1	2	3	4	5
7 Yasamal II	Nuriyev Alimammad Mali oghlu	APFP	12407	5938	47.86
9 Khatai I	Safarli Mais Ismayil oghlu	Yurddash Party	14008	1741	12.43
10 Khatai II	Aghazada Igbal Feyruz oghlu	Non partisan	15206	3550	23.35
38 Sumgayit I	Sadigov Fikrat Mammad oghlu	NAP	19919	17042	85.56
51 Agsu-Kurdamir	Gulamov Hidayat Hamid oghlu	ANIP	20819	14176	68.09
53 Astara	Guliyev Isgandar Hasan oghlu	NAP	37223	28833	77.46
56 Barda city	Orujov Zahid Maharram oghlu	Ana Vatan Party	20153	11347	56.30
65 Gusar	Pirmatov Gulmat Mahammad oghlu	NAP	27917	14643	52.45
68 Imishli	Mammadov Famil Huseyn oghlu	NAP	26082	15315	58.72
94 Hajigabul-Salyan	Samadov Ogtay Jilovkhan oghlu	NAP	26477	7370	27.84
99 Shamkir city	Samadov Abutalib Gambar oghlu	Party of Alliance for the Sake of Azerbaijan	20730	17119	82.58
Total			240941	137074	56.89

¹ For comprehensive provisional results see appendix III.