While the election is over and votes were counted, the opinions on the results as well as the election process itself divide.
The Classical Popular Front Party demands re-election.
In a statement issued shortly after the election on November 2 the party said:
- The new parliament appointed by the government is illegitimate;
- The party is rejecting election results;
- And the results should be cancelled and new elections held.
PACE says it was all good
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe with its 28-member mission made the following statement:
- The elections were held in accordance with election code;
- Election day was calm and peaceful;
- Voting process was adequate and generally in line with international standards;
- No incidents were reported by observers.
The only criticism the mission made in its statement was with regard to the country’s human rights sphere.
“In conclusion, despite the above-mentioned shortcomings, the significant increase in voter turnout and the transparency of voting and counting procedures demonstrate another step forward taken by the Republic of Azerbaijan towards free, fair and democratic elections and that the results of the vote express the will of the Azerbaijan people”.
In total there were 125 constituencies, with 5,547 polling stations and 2,894,515 voters on the day of the election registered by the Central Election Commission.
Of the 125 seats, the members of the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan secured 71. There were 27 new faces elected to the parliament while the independent representatives and other parties secured the rest of the seats.
REAL and Musavat reject election results
REAL movement, whose leader Ilgar Mammadov is currently in jail too issued a statement once the results of the election were made public. In its statement the movement rejected the results adding, “Elections held on November 1 went down in Azerbaijan’s history as elections with most fraud. Mass fraud took place at every single precinct and polling station”, said the statement.
The movement also warned of the approaching explosion- everywhere around the world, countries are headed towards chaos creating base for civil var. “By resorting to complete fraud in this election, the Government of Azerbaijan destroyed people’s trust in the election institution completely!”
Echoing the calls of parties, the head of the Musavat party Arif Hajili too demanded that the election results are cancelled. “The election commissions are fully under the government control”, said Hajili. He called this election, “the most unsuccessful election of the last 15 years” and added that the real voter turnout was only around 10%.
CIS monitoring mission talks progress while "Parliament 2015" speaks of high standards
The CIS monitoring mission, headed by Sergey Lavrov concluded there were only very few violations while the rest of the elections went well. “These elections were certainly better than last”, said the final mission statement.
Azerbaijan based “Parliament 2015” Election Monitoring Coalition concluded; “Parliament elections held in Azerbaijan took place by the highest standards”.