WESTERN OFFICIALS SAY FREE, FAIR ELECTIONS VITAL FOR AZERBAIJAN
By Aida Sultanova
The Associated Press
09/05/05 13:24 EDT
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – Top Western human rights and democracy
officials warned the authorities in Azerbaijan on Monday to ensure
free and fair parliamentary elections in November, saying they were
vital for the oil-rich Caspian state’s democratic development.
Terry Davis, the secretary general of the Council of Europe rights
body, said the Nov. 6 vote must be “held in full respect of European
and international standards,” and that President Ilham Aliev’s May
directive to ensure free balloting reflected his commitment to a
democratic future for his former Soviet nation.
Davis said the legal basis for the vote still needs improvement,
but added that “even with the weak legal basis it will be possible
to have free and fair elections.”
Dimitrij Rupel, chair of the trans-Atlantic security and democracy
body, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, voiced
similar optimism.
“There are still open questions regarding the electoral commission,
about the electoral lists, the voters’ lists, but I think that they
will be accommodated,” Rupel said. “I am aware that there are still
some differences between what the agencies have proposed and the
reality on the ground, but there’s still time.”
Opposition leader Isa Gambar said he saw no reason for the Western
officials’ high hopes, given past allegations of election fraud.
“Nothing has changed in the Central Election Commission itself,”
he said. “What is that optimism based on?”
Azerbaijan’s former president, Ayaz Mutalibov, who lives in
self-imposed exile in Russia, registered on Monday as an opposition
candidate for the parliamentary elections, a member of his party said.
However, Mutalibov, who was the country’s first post-Soviet president,
will not return home until he receives security guarantees, said Araz
Alizade of the Social-Democratic Party of Azerbaijan.
Prosecutors have warned the former president faces arrest if he comes
to Azerbaijan. Mutalibov faces criminal charges of negligence and
plotting to overthrow the government – charges he says are groundless.
Mutalibov was deposed in 1992 amid economic turmoil and losses in
a war with neighboring Armenia. Authorities have accused him of
orchestrating coup attempts in 1995 and 1997.
Azerbaijan has been tense ahead of the vote. Opposition parties have
rallied almost weekly amid fears that Aliev’s government could try
to rig the election.
Azerbaijan’s October 2003 presidential election, in which Aliev
succeeded his ailing and long-ruling father who died after the vote,
was widely alleged to have been fraudulent and the outcome triggered
violent clashes between police and demonstrators.
“It’s very important for these elections … to be better than previous
elections,” Davis said.