All news

No major violations exposed at Azerbaijan’s presidential polls - CIS observer mission

Slutsky also noted a considerable progress in the development of Azerbaijan’s electoral system

BAKU, October 10 (Itar-Tass) - No major violations have been exposed during the vote counting and in the organization of the presidential elections in Azerbaijan, coordinator of the observer mission from the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Leonid Slutsky, who chairs the CIS committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, told a news conference on Thursday.

“Our observers were present during the vote counting at election commission in Azerbaijan,” he said. “It can be noted that everything was organized with a maximal transparency and in a systemic manner. There were no gross violations. It is difficult to find any faults.”

The elections, he said, were organized “professionally in all respects.” “Sure, there were some minor faults and violations, but they were rather technical, they were in no way mass or systemic. So, the mission arrived at the conclusion that these violations could not impact free expression of will of the Azerbaijani people at the presidential elections,” he stressed.

Slutsky also noted a considerable progress in the development of Azerbaijan’s electoral system. “If we compare with the presidential polls in 2008 and the parliamentary elections in 2010, when there were a lot of claims, including from various observer missions, I would say that the bulk of such claims were settled during these elections,” he stressed and added that Azerbaijan’s experience in the use of advanced election technologies and “election knowhow” could be adopted in other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and outside it.

According to official data from the Azerbaijani Central election Commission, incumbent President Ilham Aliyev has won a sweeping victory with 84.55 percent of votes.