The general consensus among the international observers was that there was slight progress compared to the November elections IFES Azerbaijan Chief of Party Daniel Blessington stated, Trend reports.
The elections were held without major incident. Turnout was roughly 36 percent. Candidates of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijani Party known as YAP won five of the 10 seats.
Results are still subject to all complaints and appeals and a final review by the Constitutional Court, he underlined.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which fielded a team of approximately 20 observers, was basically satisfied with the voting, but declined to offer an evaluation of the counting of ballots and tabulation of results because of an insufficient number of observations. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe only fielded a small team so could not evaluate the voting itself in any meaningful way. In its statement, it noted some progress and a continuing need for reform.
I think it will be interesting to see what happens to the Milli Majlis over the next few years, particularly if there are some new faces after the repeat elections. Weve been conducting voter education activities in the 10 constituencies where the repeat elections will be held, Blessington underscored.
We conducted voter education activities in the 10 constituencies where the repeat elections were held.
In connection with this, IFES produced the 'Citizens Guide to Parliament', a colorful booklet which provides very basic information on the role of parliaments in general, and some pertinent facts about Azerbaijan's parliament, the Milli Majlis. Our trainers were all locals - most of them former IFES employees or volunteers. I
In addition we've edited three public service announcements. They were produced for the November elections, and were adapted for the repeat elections. Finally, IFES Azerbaijan cooperated with the Council of Europe and Venice Commission on several events dedicated to the improvement of election practices, such as the handling of complaints and appeals, police conduct and possible changes to the legal framework for elections.
Two of the events were designed for high level officials from Baku Participants included the minister of the interior, top officials from the presidential apparat, the head of the appeals court, and chairman of the elections commission. The others were interactive trainings for the election commission members and other officials in the 10 districts where the elections were held, Blessington continued.
There are people in Azerbaijan who sincerely believe in the right development of the events and the cooperation with IFES is an obvious evidence for democratic progress.