OSCE/ODIHR deploys team to observe partial repeat of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan

WARSAW/BAKU, 25 April 2006 - The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has established a Limited Election Observation Mission in Baku in advance of repeat parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, being held on 13 May in 10 of the 125 parliamentary constituencies.

This follows the observation by ODIHR of the 6 November 2005 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. By Presidential Decree, repeat elections are being held in 10 constituencies in which the Central Election Commission and the Constitutional Court annulled election results.

The mission, headed by Ambassador Geert Ahrens, is composed of six election experts and seven long-term observers. It will primarily be observing the campaign environment, the administrative preparations for the elections, and the functioning of the complaints and appeals procedure. The OSCE/ODIHR is not requesting the OSCE participating States for short-term observers for these elections.

In its Final Report on the 6 November elections, the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission concluded  that, overall, the elections did not meet a number of OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections. The report included a number of recommendations for further improvement of the election process in Azerbaijan. The OSCE/ODIHR remains ready to support the efforts of the authorities and civil society of the Republic of Azerbaijan to conduct elections in line with OSCE commitments.

Approximately six weeks after the end of the observation, the OSCE/ODIHR will issue an annex to the Final Report on the parliamentary elections.