Azerbaijan early parliamentary elections 2020: ODIHR observation mission final report

A restrictive legal and political landscape meant that voters in the early parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were not provided with meaningful choice despite a high number of candidates. Although the Central Election Commission made efforts to act transparently, significant procedural violations during counting and tabulation raised concerns regarding the honesty of the results. These are some of the main conclusions from the final report on the Azerbaijan elections from 9 February 2020, as published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

This document offers 31 recommendations to improve the conduct of elections in Azerbaijan. They are also meant to support efforts of aligning with OSCE commitments as well as other international obligations and standards for democratic elections.

Recommendations

Key recommendations include:

• guaranteeing fundamental rights and freedoms, eliminating gaps and addressing previous recommendations from ODIHR and the Venice Commission as well as rulings of the European Court of Human Rights
• ensuring the freedom of assembly, with a focus on simple notification procedure and accessibility of venues
• revising media laws to ensure full freedom of expression and equal access to information for journalists, including by shielding them from pressure or intimidation
• upholding the integrity of the electoral process, in particular by preventing ballot box stuffing, implementing safeguard procedures such as inking and securing the ballot boxes, and maintaining the secrecy of the vote
• ensuring that the election campaign is conducted in an atmosphere free from intimidation and fear of retribution
• setting precise and exhaustive grounds for blocking websites and granting this power exclusively to the judiciary
• revising the composition of election commissions in order to enhance their impartiality
• investigating irregularities during the vote count and prosecuting perpetrators

ODIHR deployed an Election Observation Mission on 7 January 2020 to observe the early parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. All 57 countries across the OSCE region have formally committed to following up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.