Election in Azerbaijan Don't Meet European Standards, Observers Say

PanARMENIAN.Net - "The parliamentary election in Azerbaijan did not meet the commitments of Azerbaijan to the OSCE and did not meet the democratic standards of the Council of Europe," said the president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Alcee L. Hastings at a news conference on November 7 in Baku. He noted that despite the positive processes marked during the pre-election campaign, it had not enabled to hold transparent, free and democratic elections. "Despite the fact that the voting passed in a quiet atmosphere, the situation aggravated while the counting of votes. Especially it was observed in the evening of November 6 by the closing of the polling stations, Hastings said. He also noted that the decision on use of the marking ink on the election day had been taken too late. "The decision had been taken only two weeks before the elections. At the same time, inking at some polling stations did not take place altogether," the OSCE PA President said, noting that unbalanced involvement of political parties representatives in electoral committees caused also problems. "Balancing of the electoral committees composition could have helped to solve many problems on the voting day," Hastings said adding that the statement is based on observations of 665 observers from 42 countries, Mediamax reported.