Meeting of Heads of International Observer Missions Held in Baku on Election Day

Members of the CIS Observer Mission at the elections to the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic – Head of the CIS Observer Mission, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee – CIS Executive Secretary Viktor Guminskiy, Coordinator of the IPA CIS Observer Team Sodiq Safoyev, Secretary General – Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat Dmitriy Kobitskiy and Director of the International Institute for Monitoring Democracy Development, Parliamentarianism and Suffrage Protection of Citizens of IPA CIS Member Nations (IIMDD IPA CIS) Ivan Mushket – met with observers from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR), led by Head of the Mission Peter Taylor.

The participants exchanged information on their activities in the framework of monitoring the elections to the Milli Mejlis. In particular, Viktor Guminskiy said that the CIS Observer Mission has been working in the Azerbaijan Republic since 19 January and consists of more than 250 observers from eight countries of the Commonwealth. By the time of the meeting, the CIS observers had already visited 20 regions of the Azerbaijan Republic. Viktor Guminskiy noted that according to preliminary data, the elections were being held in a peaceful atmosphere, without serious violations.

Peter Taylor informed his colleagues that on 6 January the advance team of the OSCE / ODIHR Observer Mission, which included 12 people, began its work in the Azerbaijan Republic. Later, it was joined by observers performing long-term monitoring.

The participants of the meeting commended the cooperation established between the observers from different missions, as it contributes to the democratization and transparency of elections.

On the same day, the IPA CIS Observer Team met with Head of the OSCE PA Mission Elona Gjebrea Hoxha, Special Coordinator of the OSCE Short-Term Observer Mission Arthur Gerasimov and Head of the mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Frank Schwabe. International observers shared their views on the organization of voting at polling stations and discussed the continuation of contacts in order to improve the methodology and harmonize election observation standards.

It should be noted that the current election campaign in the Azerbaijan Republic is distinguished by an unusually wide representation of national (more than 90 thousand) and international (873 out of 55 states) observers.