The elections in Azerbaijan and upcoming elections in Georgia

By Vestnik Kavkaza

2013 can be described as crucial for the Caucasus, considering the number of elections held here. In May the municipal elections to the Council of Elders in Yerevan took place; they were the last link in the chain of election processes in Armenia. Azerbaijan elected its president on October 9th,  while Georgia will do so on October 27th. The October elections in the two South Caucasian states are commented on for Vestnik Kavkaza by Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots.

Speaking about Azerbaijan, where he was an observer, Slutsky said: “A candidate should be compared to himself some time ago, and the problems that existed at the presidential election of 2008 and the problems noted by international observers at the elections to the parliament in 2010, including the mission of the CIS, were taken into account and eliminated. On the contrary, there were many elective know-hows, for example, transparent ballot boxes, carrying cases and schemes of polling stations that have made these elections extremely human-friendly. Azerbaijanis are a temperamental people; we know them well. We spent all our life side by side with these people and with this country. And the fact that there were no incidents at the polls is even now difficult to believe. In particular, this is confirmed by the observers who represented all the candidates for the presidency of the republic, all the political parties at each, including remote, polling station, including those where refugees from Nagorno- Karabakh voted.”

According to Slutsky, “all of this suggests that the country uniquely prepared and conducted the elections, which, no doubt, will be an important stage and will go down in the history of both the elections in the country and the country as a whole, which for a third time elects its President. Any statements by the international missions that some changes were made in the legislation the year before the election - these are precisely those improvements that have improved the conduct of the elections. We have conducted quite a serious analysis. In the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly there is the International Monitoring Institute that has prepared this analysis and sent it to all the countries of the Commonwealth. As for unequal access to the media, this is an eternal argument. In this case, it is plainly clear. Yes, the current president has more access to the media, but not as a presidential candidate, but as acting head of state. If he, being on the "box", had said some nonsense or uttered some words behind which there was nothing, he probably would not have had the huge rating which he has today. We should not talk here about unequal access to the media. In the course of our pre-mission, August 1 - September 6, when the mission of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS was working, it marked just a very well thought-out work to give access to the media to the presidential candidates. So I want to say that the elections were held, they were free and democratic, and this really was an open expression of the will of the Azerbaijani people who voted for their president.”

Commenting on the upcoming elections in Georgia, Slutsky noted: “Mikhail Saakashvili is, unfortunately, a person who probably cannot adequately assess the situation in his country, who allowed the barbaric aggression against South Ossetia during the Olympic Truce. Today, he is not supported by the population of Georgia due to the lack of social policy, because of the monstrous problems in the prisons system, and much more that should not be described for our viewers, this is well known. Today in Georgia healthier political forces have come to power that enjoy greater support on the part of Georgian society. Will they work constructively with Russia? I think that constructive cooperation here will slowly but surely grow. Of course, there are factors in our recent history of the emergence on the political map of the world of two new states - Abkhazia and South Ossetia. All this is not facilitating factors in co-operation between Moscow and Tbilisi, but we can cooperate in the humanitarian field, in the cultural sphere and in the parliamentary diplomacy, which is often needed where the official diplomacy faces difficulties. Therefore, we expect from the elections in Georgia, of course, the free and democratic expression of the will of the Georgian people. And we will work with those who will be elected. Whether it is hard or easy, or at times frustrating, but it is necessary to work with them, because our peoples became brotherly long before the signing of the Treaty of St. George. And this historical truth cannot be reversed by any officials or presidents.”