EXCLUSIVE
Observers from foreign countries and international organizations have been working in Azerbaijan for several days now. They've arrived in the republic to monitor the progress of voting in the early presidential elections, which will take place tomorrow, February 7. Chairman of the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on Public Control and Work with Citizens' Appeals Alena Bulgakova, who arrived in Baku as part of a delegation from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, told the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza about the work done by the Azerbaijani authorities to organize the elections.
- Alena Valerievna, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly takes part in monitoring elections in almost the entire post-Soviet area. In your assessment, what is the peculiarity of the organization of the electoral process in Azerbaijan when compared with other CIS countries?
- At first, I would like to note that all electoral systems in the world are unique in their own way, in some ways practices may overlap, but national legislation and procedures always have their own characteristics. For example, as we were informed by the CEC of Azerbaijan, a record number of observers will be sent to polling stations. There will be more than 90 thousand, including representatives of 14 political parties, 85 thousand national and 790 international observers. Wide media coverage is expected.
I would also like to note that the laws of Azerbaijan clearly provide the guarantees for the rights of observers to monitor all the actions of the commission, including the summing up of official results, not only on election day, but throughout the entire electoral process. In addition to this, according to the CEC, 1,000 polling stations will be equipped with video surveillance. This is a very good level of public control when compared with most countries not only in the post-Soviet space, but also in the world.
- Is it possible to draw any preliminary conclusions about the degree of transparency and democracy of electoral procedures in the upcoming presidential election in Azerbaijan?
- During our stay in the country, we took part in meetings with parties of candidates, with the Сhairman of the CEC of the Republic of Azerbaijan, representatives of the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor General's Office, as well as members of the diplomatic and consular corps participating in the election at foreign polling stations. In general, our goal in the pre-election period was to study the course of the campaign comprehensively and fully, as well as to assess readiness for the election.
Preliminarily, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly observation mission concluded that the electoral legislation of Azerbaijan complies with international standards for conducting democratic elections, which include the possibility to ensure openness and transparency of the electoral process, universal, equal and direct suffrage, independent control by society and political forces and other criteria.
- You are directly involved in the activities of the Independent Public Monitoring in Russia. To what extent is our experience used in organizing the institution of observers in Azerbaijan?
- Of course, at the meetings we shared Russian observation experience, we are ready to maintain dialogue in this direction further, to exchange methodological materials and other practices that have proven their effectiveness. Following the observation of the voting process and visiting polling stations, the mission will give an opinion, guided by the principles of impartiality, objectivity and assistance in the development of the electoral process in the country.
