Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Elections

WARSAW, 2 February 2006 - The OSCE's elections body, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), has issued its final report on the 6 November 2005 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.

The report contains a set of recommendations for improving the country's election process, as well as a detailed assessment of the entire election process, including post-election developments.

The final observation report follows a preliminary statement made after last year's parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. The statement concluded that the election did not meet a number of OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards for democratic elections.

The final report adds that the complaints and appeals process did not provide adequate redress for shortcomings, either prior to or after election day. In particular, few effective sanctions were imposed on local executive authorities who interfered in the election process in violation of the law.

The report offers 30 recommendations for consideration by the authorities of Azerbaijan, regarding election administration, legal framework, media, freedom of assembly and women's participation. It calls for further political will from the State authorities to curtail interference of local executive authorities in the work of election commissions and in the election campaign.

The OSCE/ODIHR remains ready to support the efforts of the authorities and civil society of Azerbaijan to conduct elections in line with OSCE Commitments.

The OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission to Azerbaijan was led by Ambassador Geert-Hinrich Ahrens. On election day, over 600 observers from 42 OSCE participating States were deployed throughout the country.