Foreign

Home page

Foreign

OSCE ODIHR presents its first report on presidential elections in Azerbaijan

13 July 2013 10:41 (UTC +04:00)

According to OSCE website, the report includes constitutional requirements, electoral rights, pre-election campaign, campaign financing, candidate registration, conduct of media and other moments.

All citizens over 18 years of age have the right to vote, except for those recognized as incapable by a court decision. Voter registration is passive and the Central Election Center of Azerbaijan maintains an integrated, nationwide voter list. According to the CEC, there are currently some 4.9 million registered voters, which differ significantly from the 6.4 million citizens of voting age recorded by the State Statistics Committee.

All OSCE/ODIHR NAM interlocutors expressed support for an OSCE/ODIHR election

observation mission. Representatives of official bodies emphasized that the electoral process would be transparent and that observation by the OSCE/ODIHR and any recommendations for potential improvement of the process would be welcome. Other interlocutors requested that the OSCE/ODIHR deploy a large number of observers to cover all stages of the electoral process. In addition to a core team of experts, the OSCE/ODIHR recommends the secondment of 30 long-term observers and 280 short-term observers from OSCE participating States.

The document says that for the upcoming election, several opposition parties and a number of civil society activists formed the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), with the intention to propose a joint opposition candidate. On 2 July, the NCDF announced Rustam Ibrahimbeyov would stand as their candidate. The announced nominee for presidential candidate of the REAL Movement, Ilgar Mammadov, was arrested in January 2013 in connection with public disorder in the town of Ismayili and has since been in pre-trial detention.

Presidential elections are primarily regulated by the Election Code and the Constitution. Recent amendments to the Election Code removed the possibility for candidates to receive state funding for their campaign, reduced the campaign period from 28 to 23 days, and shortened the adjudication period for complaints and appeals. In 2009, the Constitution was amended, removing the limitation of two consecutive terms for the presidency, thereby allowing the incumbent president to stand for a third consecutive term.