CIS Observer Mission Summarized Results of Monitoring of Parliamentary Elections in Azerbaijan Republic

The final press conference of the CIS Observer Mission was held in Baku at the independent media center "Elections 2020", thereby completing a series of events which were part of the monitoring of preparation and holding of the snap elections to the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic.

The event was attended by Head of the CIS Observer Mission, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee – Executive Secretary of the CIS Viktor Guminskiy, Coordinator of the Observer Team from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly Sodiq Safoyev, Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Dmitriy Kobitskiy, and other Mission members.

Viktor Guminskiy opened the press conference and noted the highly professional organization of the elections to the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic. “In general, the elections were held in accordance with the legislation of Azerbaijan, they were competitive, open, free and consistent with the principles of democratic elections,” emphasized the Head of the CIS Observer Mission.

Viktor Guminskiy stressed that over 250 CIS observers worked during the elections to the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic, which allowed to perform wide monitoring of the election campaign in various regions of the country.

Coordinator of the IPA CIS Observer Team Sodiq Safoyev also emphasized that the elections had been held at the high organization level in the environment of open political competition. A record number of candidates from parties and self-nominees became a distinctive feature of the elections, which indicates a high degree of political involvement of the society.

Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Dmitriy Kobitskiy noted that the elections had been held in a peaceful atmosphere, voters were provided with the opportunity to make their choice freely and independently. “It was gratifying to note the absence of serious violations and concerns when visiting the polling stations,” said Dmitriy Kobitskiy.

According to international observers, the elections to the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic on 9 February 2020 were held in compliance with the rights and freedoms of all participants of the electoral process and in accordance with generally recognized democratic principles and standards for organizing and conducting free and fair elections.

During the elections to the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic, the Central Election Commission of the Azerbaijan Republic accredited over 870 international observers from 55 foreign countries, as well as over 90.000 national observers. The Observer Mission from the Commonwealth of Independent States included 252 observers representing the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as the CIS Executive Committee, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia.