PRESS CONFERENCE OF CHAIRMAN OF CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION MAZAHIR PANAKHOV
He in particular said:
There were certain complaints. I would like to study them to inform you. Members of the Central Electoral commission were staying in touch with districts and precincts from morning till night. Representative of various observation commissions were in touch with CEC members by telephone. The CEC members also were monitoring various districts and precincts. In response to appeals they visited the districts and precincts, and in some of cases, monitoring was held at CEC’s own initiative.
During CEC session tonight, we have discussed certain issues. The General conclusion we have come to is that the elections have been held at a due level. Of course, CEC received reports on irregularities observed in a number of places. We are to check it. But all in all, one can say that no complaints have been received so far from overwhelming majority of the 125 districts. That is why, as I have already noted, the information exchange with representatives of various observation missions, as well as our own monitoring had played a key role for us to draw the conclusion. On election day, we have to react the complains received by CEC as soon as possible. As you know, with the immediate assistance from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission experts, the Central Electoral Commission have drawn up the instruction on consideration of complaints and appeals concerning violation of electoral law. The instruction was blished in newspapers. The complaints and appeals will be considered in accordance with the given instruction.
In 5 thousand 137 poling stations the turnout was 46, 83 percent i.e. 2 million 183 thousand 913 of 4 million 662 thousand 603 voters cast ballots. I consider it is approximately as many as we expected. A great deal of the candidates in large cities, in particular, Baku created a picture that was different from that observed in the previous elections. The conclusion we made after preliminary study is that the difference between turnouts in cities and villages was less than before. Turnout was high in the districts with a great number of candidates.
We are studying the complaints. To date, CEC has received 71 complaints. The vast majority of them are addressless and anonymous, and contain candidates’ claims against each other. There were complaints on local executive authority’s interference in some districts. We received a large number of appeals regarding the PA Consulting Group that conducted the exit poll. We first considered them together with the CEC members. After the complaints are considered, the CEC members will express their opinion. At the same time, if other appeals are received by the CEC, we will inform the public.
We expect to receive a great deal of complaints as the total number of candidates made up 1539. We thought even in case of one complaint per two candidates then their number would exceed 700, but only 71 have been received by CEC so far.
One of these complaints attracts particular attention. Candidates sent to us 15 ballots having their corners cut, with stamps of the station and a signs in favor of a certain candidate. Of course, it needs checkup. That is why we have immediately informed the district electoral commission, which should consider the issues and inform the Central Electoral Commission.
Another serious report was received from the district #30, where one of the candidates had created a serious conflict. His actions were recorded on a video-tape which was provided to CEC. We need to study this fact. There were reports that some voters’ names were not found in electoral register even though they had their ID cards. We are now engaged in checking up these facts. We received information that in one district there were 80 facts of this kind. There were also complaints on interference by executive bodies and police.
Of Course, the most surprising were complaints concerning the exit poll provider PA Consulting Group. According to over 50 reports received from Garadagh #11, Khachmaz #48, Aghdam rural #199 election districts, the persons who were conducting the exit poll were representing only one side i.e. the opposition. It is certainly inadmissible. We are to study this issue and inform the public.
Today, the group of independent observers from the Webster and Truman universities of the United States has held a press conference at the Independent Press Center. In all, their opinion was positive. I received some information about the group’s members. They are influential persons in their countries. They highly valued the elections in Azerbaijan. Of course, we are very pleased of this, and going to learn preliminary estimations of other observation missions. Some of them will make their opinions public on 7 November.
I believe that all in all the elections were conducted in a free and democratic atmosphere. But I repeat that the Central Electoral Commission received reports on a number of irregularities, and we will do examine these facts. The decision by the Commission members is that the position CEC has held before remains the same: we are decisive in stating that this is the position of the Head of our State, his political will concerning the conduct of democratic elections in Azerbaijan. We will try to go through the complaints we had received in 20 days, and will annul the election returns in all those districts and precincts, where violations of the law took place. Our stance is very serious.
Afterwards, the CEC Chairman answered questions from journalists.
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