Europe to take more persistent stance on Azeri parliamentary polls – Swiss MP
Ekho, Baku
16 Feb 05
The rapporteur of the monitoring group of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe, Andreas Gross, has called for changes to
Azerbaijan’s Electoral Code ahead of the parliamentary elections in
November. In his interview with the Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho, Gross
said that the composition of the Central Electoral Commission should
be replaced. Our wish is to ensure that the electoral commissions are
fairly balanced between the authorities and opposition, he pointed
out. Gross also called on the Azerbaijani parliament to take into
account the proposals of the opposition and European bodies while
adopting a new Electoral Code. Touching on the establishment of
public TV in the country, Gross expressed his concern about the
poor financial basis of public TV and said that it should not be
working on a par with state television, adding that state TV should
be transformed into a public channel. The following is an excerpt from
S. Rza’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 16 February headlined
“Andreas Gross: The Milli Maclis largely depends on the presidential
administration”. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:
The visit to Baku by Andreas Gross and Andres Herkel, rapporteurs of
the monitoring group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe [PACE], ended last week. The schedule of their visit was
extremely busy. They held talks with human rights activists, leaders
of political parties and state officials during the visit. The number
one subject discussed during the European MPs’ talks were preparations
for the forthcoming parliamentary elections in the country. In this
context, the sides also touched on a number of points concerning
the forthcoming elections. Andreas Gross, one of the rapporteurs and
Swiss MP, spoke about the details and results of his meetings held
in Baku in an interview with Ekho.
Early preparations for parliament polls
[Correspondent] Could you compare the period of preparations for
the 2003 presidential elections with the processes taking place in
the run-up to the parliamentary elections? What kind of changes have
taken place since then?
[Gross] Unfortunately, we saw many mistakes in 2003. We made a number
of proposals to your government in 2004 to overcome difficulties
that lie ahead. We sincerely hoped that our proposals would be
taken into account during the 17 December 2004 local government
elections. Unfortunately, we did not see this. That’s why we have
started the preparations for the parliamentary elections so early in
2005. This time we have taken a more persistent position.
[Correspondent] How will it manifest itself?
[Gross] We will definitely visit Azerbaijan more often this year –
once in two months. In addition, I would like to recall that we
have already considered once the issue of depriving the Azerbaijani
delegation of its mandate in PACE. We did not go into details of
this issue during the January session due to the discussion of the
Karabakh conflict in PACE. We did not want to influence the course
of the discussions. At the same time, we stated that if everything
is not going as we want and our proposals are not taken into account,
we may raise again the issue of depriving the Azerbaijani delegation
of its mandate in April or June. We have to take this step since
we do not get enough support from our Azerbaijani colleagues in
PACE. Furthermore, we do not think that the Azerbaijani parliament is
strong enough. Your country’s supreme legislative body largely depends
on the presidential administration. Parliament is an autonomous and
independent body. There should be a clear-cut distinction between
these institutions in a democratic state.
[Correspondent] Why have you drawn the conclusion that the members
of our delegation in PACE are not giving you enough support?
[Gross] We have visited Azerbaijan 18 times since November 2000. I
cannot say that nothing has changed. Some members of the Azerbaijani
delegation have started understanding us better. However, there
is a question – do they have the power to change anything? In this
case, the problem is not about the Azerbaijani MPs, the Azerbaijani
parliament itself is very weak. But the Azerbaijani parliament now
has a perfect opportunity to prove its strength and power.
Changes to election law
One of our most important demands is to make changes to the Electoral
Code. The MPs can make positive changes to the Electoral Code and adopt
it in this form. I think that the MPs should think about their people,
not about their posts, while making changes to the Electoral Code.
[Correspondent] Are you talking about changing the staff of the
Central Electoral Commission (CEC)?
[Gross] The CEC staff should be changed. Every electoral commission
should be independent and assured that the elections will be held in
a fair and democratic way. Our dearest wish in the issue of reforming
the electoral law is to ensure that the electoral commissions are
fairly balanced between the opposition and the authorities. The
electoral commissions are like referees in a football match between
Azerbaijan and Armenia. The sides in question cannot have their own
referee in the game as the referees should be independent and neutral
with regards to the two sides.
[Correspondent] Some opposition parties have submitted a package
of changes to the Azerbaijani Electoral Code. Are you familiar with
them? Can such proposals serve as a guarantee for holding democratic
elections?
[Gross] I have already received the aforesaid document from two
sources. I think the parliament should accept the consensus option
if it adopts a new Electoral Code. It is necessary to take into
account the proposals of the opposition, the Council of Europe and
the Venice Commission. Even the CEC proposes changes to the Electoral
Code. Representatives of the CEC are interested in balancing the
influence of the executive authorities on the electoral commissions.
[Correspondent] Has the CEC told you about this?
[Gross] No, we did not know that they had proposals on reforming the
electoral system. To be frank, we were pleasantly surprised at this.
[Correspondent] It was underlined earlier that the Electoral Code
was adopted literally two years ago and there is no need to change
anything. Furthermore, the current Electoral Code was adopted with
the consent of the same opposition and different European bodies.
[Correspondent] We received information about this from the Azerbaijani
mass media. At today’s meeting (12 February 2002) with the head of the
Azerbaijani presidential administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev, I asked him:
“You told a newspaper that you are not going to discuss this. Then
why are we here?” But Mehdiyev said that the papers are mistaken. He
also said that the government was ready to discuss changes to the
Electoral Code.
Opposition
[Correspondent] The opposition is being accused of passivity after the
2003 presidential elections and the following developments. Moreover,
its activities have been almost unnoticeable. How ready is it to
worthily contest the parliamentary elections?
[Gross] Even the government understands that there are poor conditions
at the moment for holding absolutely democratic elections. Citizens’
right to assemble freely during the elections is just like water for
fish. This is one of the most important rights not only during the
elections. The opposition has not been allowed to stage even one mass
action after the 2003 presidential elections. This was reflected in all
our documents. We have been talking about this for 15 months. However,
the Azerbaijani government has ignored our statements. Moreover, a
large number of opposition members are still in jail. For this reason,
the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan is closely connected
with the process of democratization in Azerbaijan. I spent four hours
in Azerbaijani prisons during my current visit. I met opposition
party leaders. As I understand, they were jailed for nothing. They
were arrested because of their party affiliation. At official meetings
with your government members, we asked them to pardon them on 21 March.
[Passage omitted: public TV might be established in September]
Public TV
[Correspondent] Is your concern linked to the date for the
establishment of public TV or what?
[Gross] We are concerned about possible delays in the establishment
of public TV and the lack of pluralism there. We are also concerned
about the possible poor financial basis of the TV channel. At the
same time, we have questions about the state TV channel working on
a par with public TV. It was initially said that state TV will be
transformed into a public channel. There is no country where public
TV operates at the same level as state TV. Perhaps, Azerbaijan is
inventing something new. Public TV is a basis for free and democratic
elections everywhere because we can watch debates by people who have
different opinions. The people should understand that the truth is
not on one side, it can come from several sides.
[Passage omitted: European experts will assess the work of state and
public TV in parallel after the parliamentary polls]
Prisoners
[Correspondent] You visited prisons and met political prisoners. What
are your impressions, how far is Azerbaijan from a solution to this
problem?
[Gross] I met some activists of opposition parties arrested for the
October 2003 events [post-election riots]. The people I met have been
jailed mainly for their political convictions. As for the solution to
the problem as a whole, Azerbaijan is still far from this. We cannot
resolve the problem of previous political prisoners as long as new
ones appear. The reason why events are progressing in this way is
the lack of freedom of speech and independent judiciary bodies. At
the meeting with the justice minister, we noted that we could name
the judges in the Court of Appeal who have taken bribes and issued
unfair decisions. He said he will tackle the problem.
[Passage omitted: minor details]