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Freedom House slams elections in Azerbaijan
14:07 - 12.10.13
Freedom House has called on the European Union to prioritize human
rights and democracy in Azerbaijan at the Eastern Partnership Summit
that will take place in November 2013 in Vilnius, according to Azeri
Report.
The international human rights watchdog has further called for efforts
to suspend negotiations on visa facilitation for Azerbaijani
government officials.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) described the election as `seriously flawed', reports the
website. The government crackdowns on independent media, civil society
organizations, political activists and supporters of the opposition
candidates are said to have eliminated any possibility that the
election would be free or fair. Opposition candidates were largely
denied access to mass media during a campaign that lasted only 21
days, and freedom of assembly was severely hindered in the lead-up to
the elections, while the incumbent President, Ilham Aliyev,
extensively used state resources, which secured him nearly 85 percent
of the votes. Concerns about the level of fraud intensified on the eve
of the elections, when information available through a mobile
application run by the Central Election Commission `leaked' the
outcome of the next day's voting to social networks, in which Aliyev
was assured of a landslide victory.
`The government of Azerbaijan has shown blatant disregard for its
international obligations in the conduct of this election,' said David
J. Kramer, president of Freedom House. `President Aliyev's `victory'
is badly tainted and lacks legitimacy, raising questions about how,
even whether, he should be received at the Eastern Partnership Summit
in Vilnius at the end of next month.'
Armenian News - Tert.am
14:07 - 12.10.13
Freedom House has called on the European Union to prioritize human
rights and democracy in Azerbaijan at the Eastern Partnership Summit
that will take place in November 2013 in Vilnius, according to Azeri
Report.
The international human rights watchdog has further called for efforts
to suspend negotiations on visa facilitation for Azerbaijani
government officials.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) described the election as `seriously flawed', reports the
website. The government crackdowns on independent media, civil society
organizations, political activists and supporters of the opposition
candidates are said to have eliminated any possibility that the
election would be free or fair. Opposition candidates were largely
denied access to mass media during a campaign that lasted only 21
days, and freedom of assembly was severely hindered in the lead-up to
the elections, while the incumbent President, Ilham Aliyev,
extensively used state resources, which secured him nearly 85 percent
of the votes. Concerns about the level of fraud intensified on the eve
of the elections, when information available through a mobile
application run by the Central Election Commission `leaked' the
outcome of the next day's voting to social networks, in which Aliyev
was assured of a landslide victory.
`The government of Azerbaijan has shown blatant disregard for its
international obligations in the conduct of this election,' said David
J. Kramer, president of Freedom House. `President Aliyev's `victory'
is badly tainted and lacks legitimacy, raising questions about how,
even whether, he should be received at the Eastern Partnership Summit
in Vilnius at the end of next month.'
Armenian News - Tert.am