“Our election observation mission starts its activities in Azerbaijan at the invitation of the government of Azerbaijan,” said Eoghan Murphy, Head of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation mission to the extraordinary presidential elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan during the press conference, APA reports.
According to him, OSCE/ODIHR has carried out 12 election monitoring missions in Azerbaijan so far, and the last mission took place in 2020: “We have held meetings related to presenting our mission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The 57 OSCE member states have obligations that are related to fundamental freedoms and human rights. At the same time, every member state is obliged to invite the ODIHR to observe the election process."
Eoghan Murphy noted that the mission consists of 11 international experts and these experts came from 9 states: “The main team is located in Baku and we have established our temporary office in Baku for the next 8 weeks. Our team will visit the districts.
On January 3, 26 long-term observers will come to the country and they will visit districts after receiving instructions from the team. They will work as teams that consist of 2 observers each and monitor the preparation for the process.”
Murphy emphasized that they are not interested in the outcome of the election, but in the process of its holding: “They will monitor the election process in all parts of the country on the election day. We conduct our observation missions according to the accepted monitoring methodology.”
Murphy stressed that they are not interested in the results of the election, but the process of its holding: "Our role is not to control, help or interfere, we monitor the process and publish a report on it."
He said that the mission will publish its interim report two weeks before the election. The head of mission added that they will monitor preparation for the process, the election environment, media, as well as the situation related to the election process in social media: “We will be open to media and we will conduct our work transparently.”
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