The following statement regarding the February 9 early parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan was released by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

The restrictive legislation and political environment prevented genuine competition in Azerbaijan’s early parliamentary elections, international observers said in a preliminary statement issued Monday in Baku. Although some prospective candidates were denied the right to stand, candidate registration was otherwise inclusive. Despite the large number of candidates, voters were not provided with a meaningful choice, due to a lack of real political discussion, the statement says.

The observation mission, a joint undertaking of the OSCE/ ODIHR, the OSCE PA, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said that the election adminis­tration was well resourced and met legal deadlines, and the CEC made concerted efforts to act transparently and was welcoming towards international observers. However, proce­dural violations during the counting and tabulation of votes on election day raised concerns over whether the results were established honestly, observers noted.

“I regret very much that what could have been improve­ments did not lead to a competitive environment enabling truly democratic elections,” said Artur Gerasymov, Special Co-ordinator and leader of the OSCE short-term observer mission. “I am well aware of the impact the conflict with Ar­menia has on the organization of the elections in this country and value the efforts made to assure the participation of IDPs in the elections.”

The OSCE PA observer mission, which was led by Alba­nian parliamentarian Elona Hoxha-Gjebrea and included 57 parliamentarians and staff, deployed to many locations in Azerbaijan, including to Ganja, Ismailli, Sumgait, Baku city and surrounding regions. PA observers visited a number of specially assigned polling stations for IDPs.

“In these elections, unfortunately, we saw a low level of participation of women candidates,” said Hoxha-Gjebrea. None of the 55 registered political parties is headed by a woman, and only 21 per cent of candidates were women.

The international election observation mission comprised 358 observers from 41 countries. The ODIHR mission was led by Ambassador Peter Tejler and the PACE mission was led by Frank Schwabe.