US Department of State`s statement ‘surprise and regret’
Baku, November 10 (AZERTAC). Head of the socio-political affairs department at the Azerbaijani President`s Administration has said the US Department of State`s statement on results of the recent parliamentary elections in the country “came as a surprise and regret”.
Speaking to journalists, Ali Hasanov said: “The government of Azerbaijan considers this year`s elections completely democratic, fair and transparent, and we have all the grounds for this.”
Hasanov said: “All observers, including those representing European countries - OSCE, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly of the European Union, the Warsaw Institute of Human rights, election observation missions from CIS and TurkPA - as well as most of the local and foreign organizations which monitored the elections praised them as transparent and just. They said that the elections were well-organized in 90 percent of the polling stations, while the rest 10 percent saw certain irregularities. We consider it natural.”
The Presidential Administration official said this year`s elections were conducted in a more progressive manner in comparison with the previous ones.”
“All the interested political parties, public institutions and non-partisan candidates participated in the elections. All the candidates were provided with equal opportunities to conduct their pre-election campaign, and the elections themselves were conducted in the conditions of wide debates.”
Hasanov said the Azerbaijani foreign ministry had already voiced regret over the statement made by the US Department of State.
“It came as a surprise and regret, first and foremost, because the statement has certain subjective judgments, and it sharply differs from how most of the international organizations had assessed the elections,” he added.
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