Early Parliamentary Elections(Ahad Version)

Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI)

REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

EARLY PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS FEBRUARY 9, 2020

I INTERIM REPORT

(December 5, 2019 - January 17, 2020)

BAKU JANUARY 21, 2020

1 CONTENT

I. SUMMARY ...... 3

II. INTRODUCTION...... 4

III. POLITICAL CONTEXT AND ELECTION SYSTEM...... 5

A. POLITICAL CONTEXT...... 5

B. ELECTION SYSTEM...... 6

IV. PREPARATION FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS…………………….. 6

A. ELECTION ADMINISTRATION...... 6

B. VOTER REGISTRATION...... 7

C. ORGANIZATION OF ELECTION CONSTITUENCIES...... 8

V. PRE-ELECTION POLITICAL SITUATION AND CONTESTANTS…...... 8

A.POLITICAL SITUATION………………………………………………………….. 8

B.CONTESTANTS...... 9

VI. NOMINATION AND REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES...... 10

A. LEGAL FRAMEWORK……...... 10

B. OFFICIAL INFORMATION…...... 11

C. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROCESS OF NOMINATION AND REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES...... 12

VII. COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS...... 21

VIII. MEDIA ENVIRONMENT AND PREPARATION FOR ELECTION CAMPAIGN………………………………....………….…………. 22

A. MEDİA...... 22

B. PREPARATION FOR ELECTION CAMPAIGN...... 24

IX. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...... 27

2 I. SUMMARY

The Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI) provides legal assistance to the various parties involved in the election that has been commenced since December 5, 2019, as far as conditions permit, in addition to observing elections.

At this stage, IDI prepared a report by conducting monitoring on the pre-election environment, the election preparation process, the nomination and registration process, the activities of the election administration, preparation for the campaign, the status of complaints and appeals. It also provided recommendations in the report for eliminating the factors that violated electoral rights. In general, the report is based on monitoring conducted by twelve-person long-term observers and information collected from various parties involved in the elections.

The political context has not changed. Again, the forthcoming election takes place in a political environment in which one political force is absolutely dominant and is characterized by the lack of dialogue between the ruling party and the main opposition parties. The problems presented by IDI in the pre-election assessment paper on political rights and freedom of activity are still unre- solved.

In the pre-election period, inconsistencies in the organization of the constituencies, which IDI recorded, have not been eliminated.

According to IDI observations, voters' lists had not been played at precincts located in the areas of some election constituencies until 25 days before the voting day. In some election constituencies, voters’ lists were not placed in areas, which voters can see well and which are easy to access.

Violations in this election occurred especially against persons nominated on behalf of other political parties and organizations, as well as those who independently nominated themselves.

IDI recorded the first stage of parliamentary elections which includes violations related to nomination and registration of candidates in the observation of 74 election constituencies in the country and grouped these violations in several names.

There has been no positive change in the assessment of the pre-election media environment. Af- ter the election has been commenced, there were some violations in the context of freedom of expression. In addition, the process of preparation for the election campaign informs that there will be serious restrictions contrary to the creation of an equal, competitive and favorable campaign environment for the parties involved.

3 While CEC has technically carried out its activities in a legally compliant manner and time period, the monitoring of official information during the nomination and registration phase has been restricted. Therefore, it is doubtful that the figures presented officially reflect reality.

At the first stage of the elections, i.e. the process of nomination and registration of candidates, the majority of the complaints filed about the actions and inaction of constituency election commissions have not been investigated objectively. Of 37 complaints that the CEC received, 24 were rejected as unfounded. IDI assumes that the rejected complaints have not been investigated comprehensively. Moreover, the CEC’s “hotline 115” was not effective to immediately report and address any election-related violations.

IDI notes that violations during the nomination and registration of candidates, as well as the indicators of preparation for the campaign, raise serious doubts that February 9, 2020, parliamentary elections will not be free, fair and democratic.

The calls of the local and international organizations should be heeded, and the persons recognized as political prisoners and prisoners of conscience should be released in order to create an environment of mutual trust in the country.

Relevant actions should be taken and fair, objective and substantiated investigations must be conducted to examine the violations of the law documented. The persons responsible for violation of electoral rights, especially the officials of state bodies and municipalities involved in such activities should be called to account and punished.

At the next stages of the elections, a free and fair election environment should be created for the election subjects, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and press should be ensured, as well as external interferences in the election process should be prevented.

II. INTRODUCTION

On February 9, 2020, early parliamentary elections will be held in Azerbaijan.

4 rights. In general, the report is based on monitoring conducted by twelve-person long-term observers and information collected from various parties involved in the elections.

More information on IDI’s activities can be found on the organization’s official website1 and in the previous report2.

III. POLITICAL CONTEXT AND ELECTION SYSTEM

A. POLITICAL CONTEXT

The political context as stated in the “pre-election assessment paper” 3 dated December 25, 2019, published by IDI has not changed. Again, the forthcoming election takes place in a political environment in which one political force is absolutely dominant and is characterized by the lack of dialogue between the ruling party and the main opposition parties.

In this period, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced its judgment on De- cember 12, 2019, on the appeal of the former chairman of the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, Mov- sum Samadov, who is still in prison. According to the decision, the court announced that freedom, right to inviolability and right to fair trial granted by the European Convention on Human Rights (Articles 5.3, 6.1, 6.3 of the Convention) have been violated against M. Samadov and Azerbaijan has been fined with compensation penalty as € 4,000.4

Moreover, after the start of the elections, international bodies expressed their positions on the observation of the elections.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Needs Assessment Mission, which arrived in Baku on December 19-21 at the invitation of the Azerbaijani government, released its report on December 26, 2019.5 It laid stress on the need to go into action with 30-person long-term and 350-person short-term observation missions. Following a mutual agreement, the ODIHR Observation Mission has announced that it began its work on January 7, 2020, by holding a media conference.6 A briefing was given about the start of a 30-person long- term observation mission since January 13, 2020.

1 http://www.idi-aze.org/en

2 http://idi-aze.org/en/assesment-papaer-of-idi-on-early-parliamentary-elections/

3 http://idi-aze.org/en/assesment-papaer-of-idi-on-early-parliamentary-elections/

4 http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-198888

5 https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/azerbaijan/442936?download=true

6 https://azertag.az/en/xeber/OSCE_ODIHR_opens_observation_mission_for_parliamentary_elections_in_Azerbaijan-1382304

5 However, the European Parliament will not observe the early parliamentary elections in Azer- baijan. This was reported by the European Parliament on January 08, 2020, in information to the Turan Agency. The reason for the refusal has not been disclosed.7

B. ELECTION SYSTEM

The one-chamber Milli Majlis consists of 125 deputies, acting for five years. Deputies are elected by secret ballot based on direct suffrage from the single-mandate constituencies on the majority voting system. The candidate who collected the most votes in the elections is considered elected. If no candidates are registered in the constituency or only one candidate is registered, then elections in that constituency are postponed and the process is repeated. Quorum is not required to consider the elections valid.

The previous parliamentary elections were held on November 1, 2015. The sixth call for parliamentary elections was set for February 9, 2020, following the Presidential Decree signed on De- cember 5, 2019.

IV. PREPARATION FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

A. ELECTION ADMINISTRATION

The parliamentary elections are administered by a three-tiered structure consisting of the Central Election Commission (CEC), 125 Constituency Election Commissions (ConECs) and 5,426 Precinct Election Commissions (PECs). All commissions are permanent bodies consisting of 18, 9 and 6 members respectively, elected for five years. Except for the members of the CEC and the ConECs chairperson and secretaries, the other members of Commissions do not receive permanent salaries but only receive short-term wages during the elections. The CEC members are appointed by the parliament and the ConECs members are appointed by the CEC and PECs members are appointed by relevant ConECs. One-third of the members of the Commissions represents a parliamentary majority, one-third represents a parliamentary minority, and one-third represents neutral deputies. According to the law, all chairpersons of the Commissions are candidates of the parliamentary majority. Thus, the parliamentary majority has “de facto” a majority in all election commissions.

The OSCE / ODIHR, after the 20108 and 20189 elections, and the Venice Commission10 has re- peatedly recommended to reassess the existing formula with the way that can provide nonbeing of election commissions under the power of the pro-government forces and gaining the confi-

7 http://www.turan.az/ext/news/2020/1/free/politics%20news/az/86375.htm

8 https://www.osce.org/odihr/75073?download=true

9 https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/azerbaijan/388580?download=true

10 https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL-AD(2004)016rev-e

6 dence of public, especially, political parties that debate the results of the elections. Again, this recommendation remains unseen.

The technical preparations for the election are underway, the election administration accepts the additional required normative acts along with waiting for the deadline. The CEC sessions are open to the press and observers. Decisions are made available to the public through state-funded media and the CEC website.

In this period, the CEC carried out seminars on consideration of appeals on violation of electoral rights, an information session on “Media coverage of elections” jointly with the Baku Office of the Council of Europe, educational videos on TV and online, distribution of voter information posters.

B. VOTER REGISTRATION

Every citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan who has reached the age of 18 has the right to elect and be elected, except for persons deprived of this right by a court decision. Voter registration is a passive action and voter lists are compiled based on a permanent voter registration database administered by the CEC. The fact that a citizen lives permanently at the place of residence (at least 6 months before the election announcement) is grounded on the inclusion of a citizen in the voter list at the polling station.

According to the Election Code, a permanent list of voters is annually approved by May 30 each year at each polling station as the CEC determined and is assured at least 25 days before voting day.

Voters can also check whether their names are on the list, either through the CEC website or through the “CEC hotline at 115”. If the names of citizens, who are able to confirm their residence in the territory of the polling station and has the right to vote, are not included in the regu- lar voter list, they may be registered on the supplementary voter list, which is in PEC, on Elec- tion Day.

It should be noted that about 2,140,098-persons difference between the figure in the Integrated Voters’ List of the CEC released in May 29, 2019 (5,212,902), and the figure that the State Statis- tical Committee released in January 1, 2019 (the population (9,951,500) over 18 years old is ap- proximately 7,353,00011), which IDI indicated in the pre-election assessment paper, has not been clarified yet.

Prior to that, despite repeated concerns by local NGOs and media representatives, the EOM of OSCE/ODIHR, the aforementioned bodies did not give a reasonable explanation for these incon-

11https://www.stat.gov.az/source/demoqraphy/?lang=en

7 sistencies. In this regard, IDI's 2015 research named “Voter Registry Audit” explains in more de- tail the nature of the problem.12

According to the request of the Electoral Code, the Precinct Election Commission should place voter lists on the information boards, which voters can see well and which are easy to access, out of the voting room for familiarization of voters and additional clarifications at least from 35 days to 25 days before the voting day.

According to IDI observations, voters' lists had not been played at precincts located in the areas of the Election Constituencies No. 27, 28, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 73, 76, 81, 84, 89, 93, 94, 95, 110, and 125 until January 15, 2020. Observers could not obtain information about the voters’ lists.

In the Election Constituencies No 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 18, 21, 23, 29, 32, and 33, voters’ lists were not placed in areas, which voters can see well and which are easy to access. Observers faced significant barriers of administrative resources and security services to obtain information about the voters’ lists.

C. ORGANIZATION OF ELECTION CONSTITUENCIES

In the pre-election period, inconsistencies13 in the organization of the constituencies, which IDI recorded, have not been eliminated. As a result, the balance between the constituencies in terms of the average representation norm of voters required by the Election Code continues to be violated. In this case, the principle of equality for both parties of those who are elected and those who elect is being violated and the candidates’ opportunities to work are becoming more diffi- cult. This also calls the equality of opportunity into question in the election.

V. PRE-ELECTION POLITICAL SITUATION AND CONTESTANTS

A. POLITICAL SITUATION

Problems (Serious restriction of political rights and freedoms of activity; harassment and pressure on political opponents; targeting pressure on independent civil society and media representatives; legal obstacles to granting of foreign donors to NGOs in the country: urgency of the problem of political prisoners, pressure on independent lawyers, etc.) presented by IDI under the

12 https://idi-aze.org/az/seici-qeydiyyatnn-auditi-pdf/

13 http://idi-aze.org/en/assesment-papaer-of-idi-on-early-parliamentary-elections/ , Page 19

8 heading "Pre-election Status" in the “Pre-Election Assessment Paper” have not been solved yet.14

IDI has also recorded the following information on harassment against political activists during the reporting period:

• According to the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), Kenan Azizli, an activist of the Sumgayit organization, was subjected to administrative arrest on December 22 by the Sum- gayit City Court for 10 days. The court found K.Azizli guilty of violating Article 535.1 (deliberate disobedience to the lawful request of a police officer or serviceman) of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) based on the claim of the Sumgayit City Police Office.15

• On January 13, 2020, Alizamin Salayev, an activist of the Salyan branch of the PFPA, was arrested in Sabail District Court for 30 days under Article 535.1 of the CAO. Sabail District Police Department has compiled a protocol to other members of the PFPA - Nicat Abdul- lazade and Jeyhun Novruzov - under Article 510 of CAO (small hooliganism). The court fined both activists 50 manats. The party said the arrests were linked to activists' political activities.16

B. CONTESTANTS

Political parties are institutionally excluded from functionality and there is no legal and free environment for their activities. One of the main opposition parties, The National Council, and its leading force, the PFPA, boycotted participation in the elections by expressing their distrust of democratic conduct of elections. After the elections have been commenced, the Azerbaijan Democracy and Welfare Movement, the Classic Popular Front Party, has announced their refusal to run in the elections.

Despite all the difficulties, the Musavat Party and the ReAl Party, two of the country's leading opposition political bodies, have decided to run in the elections.

Musavat Party for the first time has chosen a form of a nomination for participation in the elections both by the party and by own initiatives of candidates (with the membership of Musavat of their party affiliation).

However, since it has no official registration, the ReAl Party has chosen a form of a nomination for participation in the elections by own initiative of candidates (with the neutrality of their party

14 http://idi-aze.org/en/assesment-papaer-of-idi-on-early-parliamentary-elections/

15 https://www.azadliq.org/a/30339713.html?fbclid=IwAR20HJ6Z5G3pqww-7EN7LrNZwBJcO24iPIdriqj0nVOyN-wpb91X_rJy4UY

16 https://www.azadliq.org/a/axcp-fəallarından-xəbər-yoxdur/30374837.html?fbclid=IwAR3k0WjV8RuQIg55-H4PvK4EG4kA6uYyQvYjsHWH- -HvjhCITHW_iFvYlw8

9 affiliation) and has created a bloc called the "REAL Republicans’ Union" with independent individuals.

At the same time, the Nida Civic Movement and the D18 Movement joined the process in the format of the “Movement” election bloc, in conjunction with opposition and independent public and political activists.

In fact, the above-mentioned blocks were not registered in the CEC as election blocs because they did not meet the requirements17 of election legislation. The parties use the block's name for more joint social and political campaigns.

The Umid Party, Civic Solidarity Party, Azerbaijan Democratic Party, Azerbaijan National Inde- pendence Party and other parties also participate in the elections.

The ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) has the largest number of candidates in the elections.

More information on nominated and registered candidates is provided in Annex 1.

VI. NOMINATION AND REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES

Compared to the 2010 and 2015 parliamentary elections, there were fewer, if any, more “silent” violations of the law in the process of nomination and registration of candidates in the current election. Violations in this election occurred especially against persons nominated on behalf of other political parties and organizations, as well as those who independently nominated themselves, except for those who support the government's policies or openly loyal to it.

A. LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Requirements for a candidate for deputy in parliamentary elections are governed by Articles 56 and 85 of the Constitution and Articles 13 and 144 of the Election Code. Following amendments to the Constitution with the 2016 referendum, every citizen who has attained 18 years of age (previously 25 years old) has the right to be elected as a deputy of Milli Majlis. Higher education is not required.

The law also limits the right to be elected in some cases. Such cases include those sentenced to imprisonment by a court judgment that has come into legal force; persons convicted for crimes (grave and especially grave) provided for in Articles 15.4-15.5 of the Criminal Code (until their conviction is not paid); persons with dual citizenship (until their dual citizenship is presence); persons who have been living in a foreign country for more than 5 years and have obligations to this country (until these obligations are terminated)); servicemen (during their military service); judges (during being judges); civil servants (during their civil service); clergymen (during their

17 Election Code, Article 50

10 professional religious activity); engaged in other paid activities except for scientific, pedagogical and creative activities (for the duration of their stay); serving in the executive or judicial systems (for the duration of their stay); persons certified by the court as incapable.

According to Article 53 of the Election Code, a candidate can be nominated with their own initiative or by voters with the active electoral right. According to Article 54 of the Code, the nomination of a candidate may also be carried out by a political party or a bloc of political parties. A political party can also nominate individuals who are not members of that party. Nominations are made by submitting a written notice to the relevant ConEC. The ConEC must review the submitted documents within a five-day period and decide whether or not the candidacy is approved. Once approved, each candidate nominated to be registered as a candidate for deputy for the relevant constituency area must be given a signature sheet to collect at least 450 voter signatures from the respective constituency. The ConEC should check the signatures and other documents of the candidate, who submitted the signature sheets, within 7 days and decide whether or not the candidate has been registered.

B. OFFICIAL INFORMATION

The process of nominating candidates for the current parliamentary elections was officially launched on December 5, 2019, and continued until the deadline for registration, January 10, 2020.

The CEC, unlike previous positive experience, has also demonstrated the negative experience it has practiced since 2015. Thus, it did not release detailed information on its internet resources on individuals and parties nominating candidates for this election too, but it only gave generalized statistics at the end of the commission’s sessions. However, after criticism of the parties and public figures participating in the election, the CEC has begun posting information on the constituencies on its website since January 11, 2020.18 At that time, the dates of the steps towards the candidates by stages were kept hidden, only the "+" sign on these actions was marked, it began to distribute information shortly before the deadline for registration. Those information have been generally removed from the site and only information of those who were registered have been left since January 18, 2020.19

Thus, the monitoring of official information during the nomination and registration phase has been restricted by the CEC. Therefore, it is doubtful that the figures presented officially reflect reality.

The CEC has confirmed the nomination of 2,358 people. Of these, 2,247 received signature sheets, and 1,774 collected signs and returned with the necessary documents. In the end, 1,560 candidates were registered.20

18 https://modern.az/az/news/223468

19 https://www.infocenter.gov.az/archive/MilliMeclis2020.aspx?i=4

20 https://report.az/siyasi-xeberler/daxili-siyaset/msk-1560-neferin-deputatliga-namizedliyi-qeyde-alinib/

11 There is a discrepancy between the information provided by the parties to IDI and the official data provided by the CEC. The results also differ when comparing the statistical figures released by the CEC above and the number of the Electoral Information Center data on registered candidates in constituencies. More information can be found in Annex 1.

C. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROCESS OF NOMINATION AND REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES

IDI recorded the first stage of parliamentary elections on February 9, 2020 - violations related to nomination and registration of candidates in the observation of 74 election constituencies in the country (Annex 2). Investigation of violations committed in other constituencies continues.

IDI has grouped the observed violations as follows:

1) Obstruction of former political prisoners in the election

Despite the Decisions of ECHR and the Decision21 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe dated 5 December, the participation of former political prisoners (Ilgar Mammadov, Rasul Jafarov, Zaur Gurbanli)22 in the elections was hampered because of their conviction. On January 7, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe23 issued a statement on the complaint of Ilgar Mammadov, the chairman of ReAl, about non-provision of his right to be elected by the Azerbaijani authorities that the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has not yet made a decision on the date of this case. Official Baku told the Committee of Ministers that the decision of the Supreme Court would be announced "as soon as possible". Ilkin Rustamzadeh24 and Giyasaddin Ibrahimov were also kept out of the elections because of their conviction. Unless these convictions are removed, they will not be able to run as candidates in the future too.

2) Violation of equality in respect of persons wishing to become a candidate

Article 55 of the Election Code states that equal conditions must be created for all nominated persons. However, Constituency Election Commissions did not comply with the requirements of the said article, demonstrating discrimination against candidates. The candidates (except the ruling party and pro-government candidates) have been required to present additional documents not envisaged by the legislation and faced various problems with acceptance of documents and issuance of signature sheets.

21 https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectID=090000168098f832&fbclid=IwAR1ueL6H-%20F4Qqiz8nNjybTAJ7- OD14Ao7v2HaDgGYytgWvf94Ff3ogEAbUTM

22 https://www.bbc.com/azeri/azerbaijan-50877607

23 https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectId=090000168099685c&fbclid=IwAR2M7ELV78RhINhryk641UaYYzPhwmp9jy- M_jOSTRTuyiSUEJ8MSPZ4bns8 http://www.msk.gov.az/plugins/pdf/datafiles/az_FILE_732044-889C65-6D1834-A1992F-0898DE-743984.pdf

12 Examples of cases involving such violations observed by the IDI:

• The chairmen of the ConECs requested a certificate of unemployment from Ali Zeynalov, NIDA member and independent candidate from Yasamal Constituency No.15, and Nurlana Jalil, independent candidate from Zagatala Constituency No.110. After numerous attempts, Nurlana Jalil was also able to submit documents to the ConEC after the CEC intervened and the violation was publicized.

• Despite the fact that Azer Gasimli, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc, was the first candidate who submitted his signature sheets to Yasamal Third Constituency No.17, the NAP candidate, who submitted his signature sheets four days later than him, he was registered before A.Gasimli.

• Namig Niftiyev, candidate of the Musavat Party from Narimanov-Nizami Constituency No. 18, says that he was registered later than those who applied after him. MP Rasim Musabey- ov's candidacy was soon confirmed.

• While nominating his candidacy, more documents were requested from Toghrul Valiyev, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Nasimi-Sabail Constituency No.23, than required; moreover, the official acceptance of the documents was delayed, indicating the rea- sons for the absence of the chairman of ConEC.

• The ConEC provided Zaur Rovshanli, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Sabunchu Constituency No.27, with the signature sheets on the 7th day.

• The ConEC did not accept the documents from Telman Guliyev, independent candidate from Sabunchu Constituency No.27, without certificate from his workplace.

• The ConEC asked for a certificate of conviction from Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, independent candidate from Sabail Constituency No.29, and did not want to accept the documents, saying "Tell you what, I won't take" when submitting his signature.

• The ConEC requested documents such as a certificate of conviction to be a political prisoner, a certificate of unemployment, etc., which the law does not require, from Elgiz Gahraman, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Sabail Constituency No.29, while nominating. Furthermore, his candidacy was not registered with the reason that he did not properly represent his property. His candidacy for the 23 December municipal elections had been registered by the ConEC with the same documents.

13 • Misir Mahammadoghlu, candidate of the Musavat Party from Surakhani First Constituency No.30, was requested to provide certificate of unemployment, so his registration was delayed.

• When applying to the ConEC on December 13, 2019, Toghrul Iskandarli, candidate of the "REAL Republicans' Union" bloc from Kepez (Ganja) Constituency No.40, was asked for certificate of unemployment, certificate of marriage, and certificate from his wife’s workplace.

• Salman Imanli, candidate of the Party of Hope from Kepez (Ganja) Constituency No.40, was also asked for certificate of marriage and certificate of unemployment.

• Murad Aghamiyev, independent candidate from the Sumgayit-Khizi Constituency No.44, wanted to submit his signature sheets and other documents to the ConEC on Jan. 10, 2020 at 5:53 pm but the ConEC was closed.

• When applying to the ConEC on December 15, 2019, for candidacy, Vasif Novruzov, candidate of the "REAL Republicans' Union" bloc from Shirvan Constituency No.46, was asked up to 12 documents, including certificate of unemployment, original diploma, copy of the military ID, and copy of the workbook. When submitting the documents, the ConEC refused to issue a certificate.

• Although Baba Mammadli, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Lankaran Con- stituency No.73, submitted his signature sheets to the ConEC before than former MP Rufat Guliyev, he was registered later than former MP.

• On December 16, 2019, the ConEC chairperson told Alisafa Bunyatzade, independent candidate from Lankaran Rural Constituency No.74, that he would not accept the documents without a certificate from workplace and delayed the signature sheets for 4 days.

• Mahammad Boyukkishiyev, the candidate of the Party of Hope from Goranboy-Aghdam-Tar- tar Constituency No.97, said that another candidate, Aghalar Maharramov was given more signature sheets than the norm. However, he did not receive more than 10 signature sheets despite writing the application.

• Saleh Soltanov, candidate from Zagatala Constituency No.110, said that while submitting the documents, it was impossible to find the chairman of the ConEC in his office.

• While nominating their candidacy, the relevant ConECs talked to candidates of the Musavat Party, Bakikhan Garibli from Shaki Second Constituency No.115, Rashid Ibadov from Ag-

14 dam Rural Constituency No.119, and Kerimkhan Zeynalov from Zangilan-Gubadli Con- stituency No.125, that they would come back in a few days by stating that they have been busy with municipal elections. In addition, the ConEC refused to accept the documents from Konul Aliyeva, candidate of the Musavat Party from Sumgayit First Constituency No.41, due to the absence of certificate of unemployment. Later, although it was said that the problem was solved after the party's authorized representative appealed to the CEC, the ConEC representative told Konul Aliyeva that her information had not been included and that she would provide a certificate of unemployment.

Similar violations were also committed by the ConECs listed in the table. Most ConECs issued signature sheets to the ruling party and pro-government candidates within 1-2 days after the receipt of their documents, but to the opposition and independent candidates outside the control of the government typically 5 days after the receipt of their documents, which is the last day provided for by the law.

3) Abuse of administrative resources

Article 55.2 of the Election Code states that abuse of one’s position or occupation to gain an ad- vantage is prohibited. Besides, Article 57.1 of the Election Code prohibits the state bodies, municipalities and legal entities, regardless of their type of property from participating in collection of signatures and Article 11-1 prohibits unlawful interference of these entities in the process of elections.

Examples of cases involving such violations observed by the IDI:

• Rabiyya Mammadova, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Binagadi Third Con- stituency No.10, said that another candidate from that constituency, Madar Musayev, had collected signatures without going home.

• Yashar Israfilov, candidate of the Musavat Party from Guba-Gusar Constituency No.53, said that when they went to some houses, people living there did not have identity cards. ID cards of those who stated this were collected and taken to Guba because they were in civil service. He faced 30 to 40 such cases in total.

• Arastun Bakhshaliyev, a candidate of the “REAL Republicans’ Union” bloc from Barda City Constituency No.93, said that while collecting signatures, it was learned that the ID cards of people were collected by the executive structures in favor of the pro-government candidate.

15 • Fagani Huseynov, candidate of the Party of Hope from Gadabay Constituency No.103, said that police investigator Ibrahim Huseynov, another candidate Oktay Huseynov's father, took part in collecting signatures in favor of his son.

According to the IDI's observations, preparation of the election documents and collection of the signatures in support of the ruling party or pro-government candidates in the election constituencies listed in Annex 2 were carried out by the employees of local executive power bodies and municipalities.

4) Interferences in the process of collecting signatures

Under Article 57 of the Election Code, it is prohibited to make voters sign signature sheets, to prevent them from signing, or paying any kind of reward during the signature collecting processes. In some constituencies, particularly in the regions, voters were pressured not to sign in favor of opposition candidates or to withdraw their signatures if already signed.

Examples of cases involving such violations observed by the IDI:

• Azer Gasimli, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Yasamal Constituency No.17, was prevented by police and field officials from collecting signatures in front of the school No.31 during the December 23 municipal elections.

• When Zakir Ismayilov, candidate of the Musavat Party from Nasimi-Sabail Constituency No. 23, applied to the ConEC for additional signature sheets, it was said that the signature sheets were over.

• While submitting the signatures, Elvin Huseynov, a representative of the Gonagkend Region- al Executive, attempted to get the sheets from Yashar Israfilov, candidate of the Musavat Par- ty from Guba-Gusar Constituency No.53. However, it was prevented by external interven- tions. While presenting the signature sheets to the ConEC, Rahib Garayev, the chairman of the ConEC, told Yashar Israfilov that because of the instructions from the top, a positive decision will not be made.

• On January 4, 2020, a representative of the Karimbeyli Village Executive pressured citizens who sign the signature sheets for Kamil Musavi, independent candidate from Salyan-Neftcha- la Constituency No.60, to not sign or vote.

• Aytac Aghazade, who was an authorized representative of Baba Mammadli, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Lankaran Constituency No.73 has been threatened by Elnur Asadov, the principal of Shilavar village school, and Nariman Abdullah, who was the collec-

16 tor of signatures, has been threatened by the chairman of the municipality of Veravul village, who came his home to threaten, and they were asked to withdraw from the process.

• Khalid Bagirov, independent candidate from Lankaran-Astara Constituency No.76, said that in the villages of Lankaran (Yukhari-Nuvedi, Khomili, Vel, Shuruk and others), the village executive representatives had previously called home to say not to sign Khalid Bagirov. Moreover, it was stated that Husein Mirzazade, who collected the signatures, went to Iran by taking the signature sheet. It is believed that he had been threatened.

• After Ilgar Maharramli, candidate of the Party of Hope from Goychay-Agdash Constituency No.89, collected the signatures in some villages of Agdash, citizens called for him. The head of the criminal investigation department of the Agdash District Police Department and the village's field officer knocked on the doors of voters. Voters were asked why they signed for the candidate coming from Goychay and it was told them that they had their own candidate.

• Executive and municipal representatives hampered the signature campaign of Vugar Aliyev, independent candidate from Tartar constituency No.95. He also said that Aslan Babayev, the representative of the head of Tartar District Executive in Ismayilbeyli village, put pressure on and threatened the man who helped him to collect the signatures.

• Ulfat Zeynalov, candidate of the Civic Solidarity Party from Shamkir-Dashkasan Constituen- cy No.100, submitted the signature sheets to the constituency, then the local executive authorities threatened people who signed for him with obstructing their work and forced them to withdraw their signatures; as a result, the candidate withdrew the signature sheets.

• While collecting signatures, representatives of the executive called for citizens' homes and urged them not to sign for Ilgar Mustafayev, candidate of the Musavat Party from Gazakh Constituency No.107.

• Before collecting signatures, of Nurlana Jalil, independent candidate from Zagatala Con- stituency No.110, the aunt who worked in the post office was pressured. Prior to receiving the signature sheets, the representatives of the education department and principals had a meeting with the teachers and stated that she was a "traitor", a pro-Armenian and an Armenian-origin. They also urged teachers not to sign for her. In addition, they were instructed to inform their relatives. During the gathering of citizens' signatures in Bahmatli village, the candidate's family member was harassed by Shamil Khasmammadov, the representative of the village executive. Furthermore, Oruj Garakhanov also traveled the territory of constituency No.110 on the AA series car and launched a smear campaign for the candidate, calling himself the mayor of Zagatala and urging citizens not to vote in a strict manner. It turned out that he was a teacher

17 at the Zagatala branch of the Economic University. The next day, one of the signature sheets was destroyed by dropping the teacup.

• Signature sheets of Najaf Garashli, candidate of the Musavat Party from Shusha-Aghdam- Khojaly-Khojavand Constituency No.124, were stolen on January 8. This happened while collecting signatures. Police were informed but no results were reported. As a result, he had to stop the process.

5) Violation of transparency principles in the process of checking signatures

Article 59.3 of the Election Code has entitled candidates and their authorized representatives of political parties or blocs of political parties to be present at checking of signature sheets at the relevant election commission. For this purpose, the relevant election commission should inform the above-mentioned persons about the examination of signatures in advance. According to Arti- cle 59.13, a copy of the protocol, opinion, and table compiled by the working group based on the results of the checking of the signature sheets of each candidate shall be given to these persons at least 24 hours prior to the election commission meeting on registration of the candidate. At the same time, according to Article 58.2, if non-deliberate mistakes are discovered in the documents indicated in Articles 58.1.2.-58.1.6 of this Code, the relevant election commission should inform the candidate on the matter within 48 hours and propose the correction of the mistakes. Despite a mandatory requirement referred to above, in many cases, election commissions failed to inform these persons about signature checking in advance.

Examples of cases involving such violations observed by the IDI:

• Of the 500 signatures collected by Eljan Mammadli, independent candidate from Yasamal First Constituency No.15, 163 signatures were declared invalid and his candidacy was not registered. He was not given any information about the meeting on the verification of signatures and the registration of his candidacy.

• Zahir Rahimov, independent candidate from Absheron Constituency No.45, was not invited to the meeting on the verification of signatures and the registration of his candidacy.

• Elbariz Taghiyev and Jeyhun Nabiyev, independent candidates from Shamkir Constituency No.98, were not invited to the meeting on the verification of signatures and their registration of candidacy. Also, J.Nabiyev was not given 48 hours to correct missing documents.

• Vugar Mustafayev, candidate of the “REAL Republicans' Union” bloc in Aghstafa Con- stituency No.108, submitted his signature sheets on January 10, 2020. Although he stated that

18 he wanted to participate in the signature verification process, the ConEC did not allow him, citing various excuses.

• Punhan Imamov, candidate of the Civic Solidarity Party from Shaki Village Constituency No. 114, was not given 48 hours to correct his information. Also, he was not invited to the meeting on the verification of signatures and the registration of his candidacy.

• Babak Ismayilov, independent candidate from Jabrail-Gubadli Constituency No.120, was not invited to the meeting on the registration of his candidacy, as well as the verification of signatures.

6) External interferences with election processes

Article 115 of the Election Code prohibits external interferences that can influence the outcome of elections or violate citizens' right to elect or to be elected at all stages of the election process.

Examples of cases involving such violations observed by the IDI:

• Dadash Ahmadli, candidate of the Musavat Party from Barda Village Constituency No.94, said that the chairman of the Musavat local organization, Qays Asadov, was invited to the meeting by Ilham Mammadov, the deputy head of the District Executive Power. He proposed the withdrawal of Ahmedli's candidacy. The incident happened on December 15, 2019.

• Nazim Azadoghlu, candidate of the Musavat Party from Zangilan-Gubadli Constituency No. 125, said that the head of the Gubadli District Executive Power, Malik Isakov, wanted the withdrawal of his candidacy through his relatives.

• Candidates of the “REAL Republicans’ Union” election bloc, Mehdi Guliyev from Gabala Constituency No.116, Famil Sadigov from Goychay Constituency No.88, Zohrab Aliyev from Barda Village Constituency No.94, Vasif Novruzov from Shirvan Constituency No.46, Aras- tun Bakhshaliyev from Barda City Constituency No.93, said that the ruling party's representatives were conducting informal campaigns in the areas through the executive branch before allowed time but the respective ConECs were turning a blind eye.

7) Pressures on election participants

According to Article 11-1 of the Election Code, unlawful interference of officials of state bodies or municipalities in the process of elections is prohibited. Obstructing the implementation of citizens’ rights to participate in the election, forcing a citizen to sign in support of a candidate or interfering with his/her voting, interfering in or influencing the work of election commissions shall

19 result in liability as stipulated in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. According to the observers cooperating with the IDI, in many cases, most voters, whose electoral rights are violated, are reluctant to file a complaint fearing reprisals from local executive authorities and police.

Examples of cases involving such violations observed by the IDI:

• Three members of Binagadi village municipality have made a pressure campaign against Ra- biyya Mammadova, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Binagadi Third Con- stituency No.10.

• Of Konul Aliyeva, candidate of the Musavat Party from Sumgayit Constituency No.41, relatives were subjected to pressure by Hijran Huseynova, the NAP candidate and chairman of the State Committee, and Malik Isagov, head of Gubadli District Executive Power, and they demanded the withdrawal of her candidacy. Twelve other candidates have already withdrawn.

• Malik Zeynalov, candidate of the Musavat Party from Sumgayit-Khizi Constituency No.44, said that Khazar Aslanov, head of Khizi District Executive Power, urged him to withdraw his candidacy. He said that the current MP Haji Salayev would be a deputy and that no other candidate would be needed. In the previous elections, M.Zeynalov's brother Nemat Zeynalov was removed from the military. Director of Khizi district education department and principal of Khizi Sitalchay village school also threatened him with dismissal from the job. Following these threats, Malik Zeynalov has not submitted his signature sheets and has withdrawn from his candidacy.

• After Baba Mammadli, candidate of the “Movement” election bloc from Lankaran City Con- stituency No.73, submitted the signature sheets to the ConEC on January 7, 2020, Elnur Asadov, the principal of Shilvar village secondary school, summoned Aytac Aghazade’s father Elkhan Aghayev to a meeting and asked him to file a complaint against the candidate B.Mammadli to the police with the claim that he molested her daughter. He said that Taleh Garashov, the head of Lankaran Executive Power, and chairman of the Lankaran branch of the State Security Service had already prepared fake criminal cases about B.Mammadli and they needed only one complaint. Elkhan Aghayev rejected the offer.

• Tahir Huseynov, candidate of the Musavat party from Lerik Constituency No.78, was pressured by Jalil Bakhshiyev, the first deputy head of Lerik district, and Alipanah Bayramov, the head of the department in Lerik district. Aghahuseyn Huseynov, who is Tahir Huseynov's brother, and other family members and relatives were pressured and the withdrawal of his

20 candidacy was demanded. When these attempts failed, voters were pressured in the signatures collection process.

• Ozal Muradov, independent candidate from Lerik Constituency No.78, (1st group visually impaired) was forced to stop his election activity at the signature collection stage because of pressures from village executive branch on his teacher friends who would help him to collect the signatures at Zenonu village secondary school where he worked as a teacher.

• Teymur Mammadov, candidate of the Musavat Party from Ujar Constituency No.91, said that the executive branch pressured voters who have signed for his registration and received the petition for refusal from them. While submitting the signature sheets to the ConEC together with Arzulla Buludlu, the authorized representative of the Musavat Party, the chairman of the ConEC, Abdulrazaq Abbasov, said without reviewing the signature sheets that citizens who signed for Teymur Mammadov were withdrawing the signatures by appealing with petitions.

• Arastun Bakhshaliyev, a candidate of the “REAL Republicans’ Union” from Barda City Con- stituency No.93, said that on December 12, 2019, the deputy chief of the Barda District Ex- ecutive Power called for his parents and threatened them. "Your son is nominating again, you will not be forgiven this time", he said.

• 4 persons came to the house of Mahammed Boyukkishiyev, candidate of the Party of Hope from Goranboy-Aghdam-Tartar Constituency No.97, on January 10, 2020, and threatened to kill him. He filed a formal complaint about this to the CEC and the Public Prosecutor's Of- fice.

• Isa Ibrahimli, candidate of the “REAL Republicans’ Union” from Samukh-Shamkir Con- stituency No.102, said that on December 30, Elshad Khalilov, the chairman of the village municipality of Samukh district, visited his house. Elshad Khalilov told him: "We were instructed not to allow you to collect signatures". At about 6 pm that day, Elshad Khalilov called for Isa Ibrahimli again and pressured on him, saying that he was kept under sur- veillance on January 3.

• The NAP Shaki district organization pressured on Razim Rzayev, candidate of the "REAL Republicans’ Union" from Shaki Constituency No.113, from December 27 - January 3. He was asked to withdraw from his candidacy. Otherwise, he was threatened with the dismissal of himself and his family. After publicizing the issue, intimidation stopped.

21 VII. COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS

According to Article 112 of the Election Code, complaints and appeals can be filed by voters, candidates, political parties and blocs and their representatives, observers and election commissions. The actions and decisions of election commissions violating electoral rights can be examined by a higher level election commission. As well as the decisions and actions of the CEC can be appealed to the Court of Appeal. The decision of the Appeal Court can, in turn, be appealed to the Supreme Court. Complaints or appeals must be filed within 3 days following the day when the violation occurred or the decision was made. The complaint shall be examined within 3 days if received 30 days prior to the voting day, within 2 days if there are less than 30 days prior to the voting day or immediately on the voting day or the day after the voting day.

The Election Code envisages the creation of a 9-member expert group in the CEC and a 3-member expert group in a ConEC for examining the disputes related to the election.

At the first stage of the February 9, 2020, Parliamentary Elections, i.e. the process of nomination and registration of candidates, the majority of the complaints filed about the actions and inaction of constituency election commissions have not been investigated objectively. According to the information posted on the CEC official website, the CEC received 37 complaints during this stage of the parliamentary elections. Of these complaints, 12 were granted, 1 was dropped, and 24 were rejected as unfounded (more details are available in Annex 3). The rejected complaints have not been investigated comprehensively.

While examining the complaints, members of the Expert Group often based themselves on the decision of the Constituency Election Commission. During the investigation, the CEC, like Con- ECs, violated the principle of transparency and investigation procedures.

In addition, according to information provided by IDI observers from the parties participating in the election, it is noteworthy that verbal appeals to the CEC did not yield results. Thus, although the candidates, political parties and their authorized representatives provided information about the violations at the CEC's "hotline 115" at the time of the violation, in most cases no action was taken. Moreover, in many cases, calls were simply not answered. Consequently, the CEC's "hotline 115" was not effective to immediately report and address any election-related violations.

IDI monitors the handling of complaints in the CEC and in the courts and will publicize the results of the monitoring separately.

VIII. MEDIA ENVIRONMENT AND PREPARATION FOR ELECTION CAMPAIGN

A. MEDIA

There has been no positive change in the assessment of the media environment at the start of early elections. Again, the independent media environment is limited, especially, the electronic media is being completely controlled by the government.

22 After the early elections have been commenced, there have been some violations in the context of freedom of expression.

On December 12, 2019, a citizen of Azerbaijan, blogger Elvin Isayev was deported to Azerbaijan on the basis of a return certificate for violating immigration laws in Ukraine.25 Since he criticized the government over the social network in a way that prefers rigid, even defamatory expressions, his deportation has drawn particular attention. In response to reports that he was subjected to pressure after being detained, information has been released referring to the media on his behalf and on “confession of his crime”.26 Then the Prosecutor General’s Office issued a statement saying that the criminal case was launched against Elvin Isayev “on the facts of public calls for mass riots and anti-government actions in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.27

On December 13, 2019, an investigation was again launched against Polad Aslanov, the editor of www.xeberman.com, who was charged with Article 274 of the Criminal Code (treason) on June 12, 2019. However, the journalist once again refused to testify to the investigator. His wife Gul- mira Aslanova posted about this on her Facebook page. He said he had taken this step by claim- ing that his arrest was ordered.28

On December 23, 2019, rapper Parviz Guluzadeh, nicknamed “Paster”, was taken to the Office for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and held there for 4 days for the use of irritating expressions in his performances, and especially in one of his raps, pointing to the seizure of the country by Pasha Bank, owned by the ruling family, was later sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention on charges of resisting police. There are allegations that he was subjected to ill-treatment.29

The Ministry of Internal Affairs states: “Police invited P.Guluzadeh to discipline while he was taking actions that commit offenses against public health and order under the influence of drugs in Binagadi district; however, he did not obey the lawful demands of the police.”30

In short, the ministry announced that the rapper had been arrested for 30 days for hooliganism.

25 https://www.amerikaninsesi.org/a/tənqidçi-bloger-azərbaycana-deportasiya-olunub/5205922.html

26 https://sherg.az/xəbər/113030

27 https://muxalifet.az/bas-prokurorluq-elvin-isayevl-bagli-aciqlama-yaydi-blogerin-ittiham-olunma-sbblri.html?page=1

28 https://basta2.com/az/2019/12/16/həbsdəki-jurnalist-ifadə-verməkdən-imtina-edir/

29 https://www.amerikaninsesi.org/a/reper-həbs-edilib-/5222089.html

30 https://apa.az/az/hadise/DIN:-Reper-Prviz-Quluzad-polis-tabe-olmadigi-ucun-hbs-edilib-565273

23 Candidate for deputy, blogger Mehman Huseynov was detained by police on December 27 in Nizami Street for protesting against the arrest of rapper Parviz Guluzadeh. He was taken to the outskirts of the city and was beaten. The MIA confirmed that Huseynov had been detained for “carrying out an unsanctioned rally and disturbing the rest of the citizens”, but denied the fact of beating.31

The OSCE’s special representative on Freedom of Mass Media, Harlem Désir also expressed his concerns about reports of detention and beating by police of the blogger: “I call on the authorities to conduct a swift and thorough investigation into this matter, and bring those responsible to jus- tice.”, he wrote in his Twitter microblog.32

On January 7, 2020, the judge of Aghdam District Court, Mahir Niftaliyev accepted the hearing of the claim of insult and slander in the form of a special case by Malahat Gurbanova, the owner of “Lombard N1”, against Anar Mammadov, editor-in-chief of www.criminal.az. Anar Mam- madov has been sentenced to probation of 5.6 years by March 2019 decision of the Baku Court on Grave Crimes, and the access from the country to website www.criminal.az, which he heads, has been banned. If a journalist is convicted of this defamatory case, he will have to spend the term of probation of 5.6 years in prison too (due to committing a new criminal offense during probation under the law).

On December 5, 2019, the European Court of Human Rights announced the decision of the mur- dered writer and publicist Rafig Taghi and recognized the violation of Article 10 (Freedom of Expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. According to the ECHR, the decision relates to the case of the late Rafig Taghi’s conviction for his article entitled “Europe and Us”. The European Court considered that the criminal conviction of the journalist, according to one article, violated his right to freedom of expression. According to the decision, the government will pay Rafig Taghi's wife and Samir Sadagatoghlu € 12,850.33

On January 15, 2020, international nongovernmental organizations have called on the Azerbai- jani authorities to lift the ban on investigating journalist Khadija Ismayil from leaving the country.34 This call is reflected in a joint statement issued by the “Index on Censorship”, the “Re- porters without Borders”, and the “Transparency International”. The reason for the call is the fact that Javanshir Feyziyev, a deputy of the Azerbaijani parliament, sued Paul Radu, the representative of the OCCRP, in London for his articles published within the framework of the project

31 http://www.turan.az/ext/news/2019/12/free/politics%20news/az/86223.htm

32 https://twitter.com/OSCE_RFoM/status/1210880396990304256

33 https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22fulltext%22:[%22rafiq%22],%22itemid%22:[%22001-198705%22]}

34 https://rsf.org/en/news/reporters-without-borders-index-censorship-and-transparency-international-uk-urge-azerbaijan-lift

24 “Azerbaijani Laundromat”. He accuses the journalist of slander. Khadija Ismayil, a leading OC- CRP collaborator in Azerbaijan, is a key witness in this case. Jodie Ginsberg, executive director of the “Index on Censorship”, said: “Azerbaijan has unjustly prevented Khadija Ismayil from traveling to punish her and to prevent her from reporting.”

IDI has monitored the performance of the media in the elections and will announce the results for the first period on January 23, 2020.35

B. PREPARATION FOR ELECTION CAMPAIGN

According to the Election Code, the campaign is offered to candidates mainly in two forms, both paid and free. Media organizations wishing to participate in the campaign have already submitted paid campaign prices to the CEC.36 There are 24 television channels in total in Azerbaijan with 12 national37 and 12 regional38 broadcasters. The number of national radios is 1339 and the number of regional radios is 340. Among 40 broadcast television and radio stations from all over the country, only the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company will participate in the campaign in the parliamentary elections.41 This participation is not their voluntary participation, but rather the result of the requirement of Article 77 of the Election Code.42 This view itself shows that it is not desirable to campaign through electronic media. In particular, the fact that the absolute majority of broadcasters, directly or indirectly, depends on the government or its imme- diate surroundings, provides a basis for evaluating this approach as a manifestation of the will of the government.

The obligation to create conditions for free campaigning was assigned only to the Public Televi- sion and Radio Broadcasting Company under Article 77 of the Election Code. However, this is conditional airtime and is not available to candidates individually. The right to enjoy this right can be used by a political party or bloc of which candidates from more than 60 constituencies were registered. Candidate registration has expired and as of 2015, no political party or bloc’s candidates in 60 constituencies have been registered, except for the ruling New Azerbaijan Party.

35 http://arqument.az/file/files/IDI_MEDIA%20MONITORING_Sentyabr%202015.pdf

36 http://www.msk.gov.az/en/elections/milli-meclise-seckiler/parlament-09-02-20/1103

37 http://www.ntrc.gov.az/en/content/left/2.html

38 http://www.ntrc.gov.az/en/content/left/3.html

39 http://www.ntrc.gov.az/az/content/left/4.html

40 http://www.ntrc.gov.az/az/content/left/5.html

41 http://www.msk.gov.az/en/elections/milli-meclise-seckiler/parlament-09-02-20/1103

42 http://e-qanun.gov.az/code/17

25 Thus, no political party or independent candidate other than the ruling party will have the right to use free airtime.

With regard to the paid airtime, all candidates may enjoy this right equally. However, when you look at the political advertising prices presented to the CEC, it is clear that this is not attainable for candidates. In total, 30 news agencies and web resources, 9 newspapers and 1 TV and radio have submitted their payment prices by registering to participate in the paid election campaign. The highest price was submitted by Public Television, which was founded by the state and is fi- nanced from the state budget. The cost of 1 minute of paid airtime in the morning (including VAT) was set at 1,558 manats and during peak hours, the cost was set at 4,602 manats per minute.43 While the minimum wage is 250 manats and the average monthly salary is 604 manats in the country, this price is very high.44

News agencies and websites also set very high advertising costs. For example, provided that APA appears on all pages to the right, the price of a banner with 260 * 383 pixels is set at 5,000 manats.45 The “Azerbaijan” newspaper, of which founder is the Milli Majlis, has set a maximum price of 4.13 manats per square centimeter.

In general, the prices of election campaign materials do not meet any standard. For example, in 201546, the average price for Public Television was 2.44 manats per minute in terms of places for annual advertising and the price of the ads they receive.47 The annual advertising revenue of pri- vate media is also very limited and according to the State Statistical Committee, in 2018, the total amount of ads received by all newspapers in the country was only 100 manats.48

The CEC has compiled a list of 272 places in total, one open and one closed for each election constituency during the pre-election campaign.49 However, in the 2010 parliamentary elections, there were 4,930 places in total, with 2,676 open and 2,254 closed places.

Allocated places are not only inadequate in terms of insufficient numbers but also in terms of location and comfortable participation of voters, but rather create serious difficulties. The prob-

43 http://www.msk.gov.az/uploads/MM-2020/kiv/itv/qosma1.jpg

44 https://banker.az/azərbaycanda-orta-ayliq-əmək-haqqi-600-manati-kecib/?fbclid=IwAR0lvKwfck8RqlYBYETCYy19_58A8_hvMDtyztwiNj- DXMW09Cw4Odn1_-2Y

45 http://www.msk.gov.az/uploads/MM-2020/kiv/apagroup/apa.jpg

46 After 2015, the financial statements of the Public Television have not been released.

47 https://novator.az/2020/01/15/huquqsunasin-ictimai-teleradioya-suali-var/

48 http://contact.az/ext/news/2019/7/subsc/economics%20news/az/82531.htm

49 http://www.msk.gov.az/az/elections/milli-meclise-seckiler/parlament-09-02-20/1106/

26 lem is more acute in regions, especially in constituencies where voters are internally displaced. IDPs living in different parts of the country must travel about 100 kilometers to meet the candidates. For example:

* Voters from only 11 out of 73 precincts in total in Jabrail - Gubadli Constituency No.120 are in Bilasuvar, which has been considered as a meeting place. Voters from 62 precincts have to go there from different parts of the country.

* Voters from only 18 out of 102 precincts in total in Lachin Constituency No.121 are in Agh- jabadi, which has been considered as a meeting place. Voters from 84 precincts have to go there from different parts of the country.

With a few exceptions, the limited number of places available for meetings in mixed constituencies creates a significant challenge. For example: in Tovuz-Gazakh-Agstafa Constituency No. 106, voters from Gazakh and Aghstafa have to go to Tovuz for a meeting; furthermore, voters living in remote and mountainous rural areas should spend hours by going to the district center for meeting with their candidates. This condition significantly reduced the possibility of competi- tion of alternative parties in equal conditions in the election.

IX. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

IDI has come to the following conclusions with regard to the first stage of the Parlia- mentary Elections:

• No improvement in the political environment ahead of parliamentary elections, the failure to release the persons recognized as political prisoners or prisoners of conscience despite the calls, as well as the lack of noticeable reforms towards solving the problems regard- ing freedom of speech and press, freedom of assembly and opportunities for sociopoliti- cal activities have not given rise to expectations of free and democratic elections;

• The stage of nomination and registration of candidates for February 9, 2020, parliamentary elections have resulted in pressure of some local executive authorities on candidates, violation of the principles of transparency and equal treatment to candidates in the activity of election commissions, forcing some candidates to write a petition to refuse candidacy, as well as creating an environment of lack of alternativeness in many constituencies through external interferences;

• Technically, CEC has carried out its activities in a legally compliant manner and time period. However, CEC’s approach to complaints related to the violations committed by ConECs in the process of nomination and registration of candidates has not been substantiated and objective in most cases;

27 • Violations during the nomination and registration of candidates, as well as the indicators of preparation for the campaign, raise serious doubts that February 9, 2020, parliamentary elections will not be free, fair and democratic.

IDI puts forward the following recommendations based on the results reached at the first stage of the Parliamentary Elections:

• The calls of the local and international organizations should be heeded, and the persons recognized as political prisoners and prisoners of conscience should be released in order to create an environment of mutual trust in the country;

• Normative acts adopted by the CEC should be brought into line with the Election Code, and the requirements of the Code and recommendations of international organizations must be implemented;

• Relevant actions should be taken and fair, objective and substantiated investigations must be conducted to examine the violations of the law documented during nomination and registration of candidates for the parliamentary elections;

• The persons responsible for violation of electoral rights, especially the officials of state bodies and municipalities involved in such activities should be called to account and punished;

• At next stages of the parliamentary elections - election campaign period and Election Day - a free and fair election environment should be created for the election subjects, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and press should be ensured, conditions should be created for pre-election public discussions, and external interferences in the election process should be prevented.

IDI Executive Board

Baku, January 21, 2019

Contact information:

Phone: (+99455) 234 76 76 Web: http://www.idi-aze.org/en Email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DTI.IDI/

28 Annex 1a

INFORMATION

Presented by parties and organizations

A B C D E F G H I

Party Number Number of Number of Number of Number of Number of Number of Number of participating in of candidates candidates candidates candidates candidates candidates registered the election nominat that that have that have that have that have registered candidates ed obtained presented been denied appealed appealed by the CEC candida signature signature registration the to the (or court) tes sheets sheets and by a ConEC ConEC court other decision decision to election the CEC documents to the election commission

YAP 123 123 123 0 0 0 0 123

MUSAVAT 81 79 75 12 2 0 1 64

REAL 46 35 31 0 2 2 0 31

UMID 74 60 24 3 1 0 1 22

MOVEMENT 18 17 17 1 1 1 0 16

VHP 56 15 15 1 1 0 0 14

ADP 20 18 15 7 0 0 0 8

29 Annex 1b

Statistics on the number of candidates based on official figures of the CEC

No. Party participating in the Number Nomination Nomination on Number of election of by parties or one's own candidates registered blocs of initiative or by showing their candidate political an initiative party affiliation s parties group 1 YAP 145 145 123 22

2 MUSAVAT 64 64 26 38

3 UMID 22 21 22 0

4 BAXCP 16 16 16 0

5 VHP 14 14 14 0

6 VAP 12 12 12 0

7 AVP 12 12 12 0

8 AMIP 10 10 9 1

9 ADP 9 9 8 1

10 MDHP 8 8 8 0

11 BQP 7 7 3 4

12 MMP 5 5 5 0

13 DIP 5 5 5 0

14 ASRP 3 3 1 2

15 BAP 2 2 1 1

16 AP 2 2 0 2

17 VP 2 2 2 0

18 DADP 2 2 0 2

30 19 AXP 2 2 0 2

20 VIP 1 1 1 0

21 AMP 1 1 0 1

22 ADMP 1 1 1 0

23 AKP 1 1 0 1

24 AP 1 1 0 1

25 VBP 1 1 0 1

26 ALDP 1 1 1 0

27 AYP 1 1 0 1

28 AARP 1 1 0 1

29 Independents 1,194 0 1 (UMID) 1,193

30 Total 1,544 350 270 1,274

Note: 350 candidates from 28 parties are participating in these elections by showing their party affiliation. Of the total 19 parties, 270 candidates have chosen the form of nomination by a party. 69 members of the 7 parties (including the YAP and the Musavat Party) have joined the elections by showing their political party affiliation and on their own initiative. 12 members of 5 political parties are participating in elections only on their own initiative. Only one of the candidates of the Party of Hope is independent, while the other party's candidates also have a party affiliation. Of the remaining 1,193 independent candidates, they were nominated by their own initiative or initiative group.

31 Annex 2

ConEC Violations number

Violation of Use of Violation of External interference Failure to equality in administrati transparenc in the process, display voter relation to ve resources y pressure on lists in polling the participants and stations candidate obstruction of signatures collection

8 x

9 x x x

10 x x x x x 11 x x

13 x x

15 x x x x

16 x x x

17 x x x

18 x x

19 x x

20 x x

21 x x

22 x

23 x x x x

26 x

27 x x x

28 x x

29 x x x x

30 x

31 x

32 32 x x

33 x x

34 x

35 x

40 x x x

41 x x x

42 x x

43 x x

44 x x

45 x x

46 x x x x x 47 x

53 x x

54 x x x

55 x

57 x

60 x

63 x

66 x

73 x x x x x 74 x

76 x x x

77 x

78 x

81 x x

84 x x

88 x

89 x x x

33 91 x

93 x x x x

94 x x x x

95 x x x x

96 x x

97 x x x

98 x x

100 x

102 x x x

103 x x x

107 x x

108 x x

109 x x

110 x x x x x 111 x x x

112 x

113 x x x

114 x x

115 x

116 x x x

117 x

118 x x

119 x

120 x x

124 x

125 x x x

34 Annex 3

Overall statistics of complaints submitted to CEC

(Appeals considered by the Expert Group)

Decision Number of On ConEC On violations committed On illegal appeals made decisions in respect of election campaigning to the CEC on subjects (candidates, registration authorized of representatives of candidates political parties, etc) by ConEC and other administrative bodies

Granted 12 12 0 0

Not granted 24 24 0 0

Referred to ConEC for 0 0 0 0 consideration

Referred to other relevant 0 0 0 0 bodies

Dropped due to withdrawal of 1 1 0 0 the complaint by the complainant

Returned to the appellant due 0 0 0 0 to missed deadline

Total 37 37 0 0

35 Statistics on considered appeals in relation to parties participating in the election

Party Total Granted Rejected Granted Rejected Left Referred participating numbe appeals appeals appeals appeals unconsider to ConECs in the election r of related to related to related to related to ed for appeal registrati registratio other other considerati s on of n of complaint complain on candidacy candidacy s ts

YAP 4 4

UMID 1 1

VHP 3 1 2

REAL 3 1 2

MOVEMENT 2 2

Independents 24 9 14 1

Total 37 12 24 1