Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 18 / Trend T. Jafarov /
The attempts of opposition parties to cast doubt on the Azerbaijani parliamentary elections and to boycott their results are illogical, Civil Solidarity Party Chairman (CSP) Sabir Rustamkhanli told Trend today.
"One cannot boycott the elections," he said. "The elections were held normally in some constituencies, and with offenses in other constituencies. The Central Election Commission (CEC) is considering all of the complaints. The work of each constituency is discussed separately. Then a decision is made."
Azerbaijan held the elections Nov. 7.
The voter turnout hit about 50.14 percent (roughly 2.48 million voters) in Azerbaijan, the CEC's Elections Information Center told Trend.
After announcing the preliminary results of the elections, the PPFA-Musavat political bloc, several parties included in the Union for Democracy, and the Azerbaijani National Independence Party signed a declaration on the non-recognition of the parliamentary elections. None of their candidates will thus take a seat in parliament.
According to Rustamkhanli, this is not the first time when the results of the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan have gone unrecognized.
"The opposition parties that failed to win the elections have repeatedly talked about boycotting them," he said. "But Azerbaijan has no specific mechanisms for boycotting. Even if a boycott is announced, it will not change anything. So I think one should not boycott, but rather work seriously with parliament."
The CSP won three seats in parliament.