ODIHR observation mission publishes interim report on parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has published an interim report of the long-term monitoring mission on the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, Report says, citing OSCE's official website.

Elections are administered by the Central Election Commission (CEC), 125 Constituency Election Commissions (ConECs) and around 5,500 Precinct Election Commissions (PECs). Thus far, the CEC has held regular sessions open to accredited observers and the media. Decisions were, in general, adopted unanimously and posted on the CEC website. Election commissions appear professional and well-resourced. The CEC is undertaking the measures to ensure that internally displaced persons (IDPs) can exercise their voting rights.

There are some 5.2 million registered voters, of whom 340,689 are IDPs. Voter lists were available for public scrutiny between 5-15 January, and voters could verify their data online and request corrections. Election day registration is possible based on proof of residency. A difference of approximately 2 million persists between the number of registered voters as per CEC data and the number of citizens of voting age, according to the State Statistics Committee.

Peter Tejler (Sweden) heads the observation mission.

The long-term mission consists of a core group of 12 experts based in Baku.

The ODIHR has requested 30 long-term observers to be deployed across the country from January 14, and 350 short-term observers will monitor the vote on election day on February 9.