US envoy visits Azeri regions to secure fair parliamentary polls

Turan news agency, Baku
6 Apr 05

Calilabad, 6 April: One of the goals of US ambassador to Azerbaijan
Reno Harnish’s visits to Azerbaijani regions is a desire to get
familiar with the readiness of local population for the upcoming
parliamentary elections. The ambassador has discussed the forthcoming
elections at meetings with representatives of local authorities and
the opposition.

“Equal” participation of all sides in the elections, peaceful situation
during the elections, freedom of assembly, freedom of the media and
fair vote-counting are the topics discussed during these meetings,
Harnish told journalists in Calilabad [southeastern Azerbaijan] today.

Harnish said he was surprised at the statement by member of the ruling
New Azerbaijan Party [MP] Bahar Muradova saying that a proposal to
sign an agreement between the authorities and the opposition in the
run-up to the elections is “not serious”. “I really did not know that
a fuss would be made about my opinion,” the ambassador said.

“Azerbaijan has very good potential to build a new model of
democracy in the post-Soviet space. You know that there is no talk
of democracy in many countries – south and north of Azerbaijan. The
ruling regimes in these countries strive to stifle democracy as
much as they can. Given that Azerbaijan has a progressive leader,
[Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev, why should not the New Azerbaijan
Party and other parties reach common ground to conduct free, just
and fair elections and ensure freedom of assembly and unimpeded work
of the mass media? The most important point is that all sides should
renounce violence during the election campaign,” Harnish said.

Harnish described Aliyev’s call for dialogue as a positive fact. At
the same time, the ambassador said that he had never heard opposition
leaders refusing dialogue. In his view, such a dialogue is crucial
in order to hold fair elections.

Commenting on frequent exchanges of fire on the front line,
Harnish said that representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office
Andrzej Kasprzyk is making efforts to stop the shootouts. However,
if his efforts fail, the issue will be discussed at a meeting of the
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in mid-April in London,
which will also be attended by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen.