Details added (first version posted on 14:37)
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29
Trend:
The Civil Initiative for Free and Democratic Elections (GISDI) has revealed its final report on monitoring of the April 11 presidential election in Azerbaijan.
Long-term and short-term missions of the Sofia-based GISDI, specializing in elections and enjoying a 28-year experience, observed the presidential election in Azerbaijan on April 11, 2018.
On April 3, GISDI published an interim report of the long-term observation mission for the pre-election situation in Azerbaijan. Then, on May 22, the final report was published.
The report, which consists of 17 sections, describes in detail the election and gives its comprehensive assessment.
Based on a two-month long-term observation and short-term observations carried out by 90 international observers at 465 polling stations, GISDI revealed its findings in the monitoring results.
"Results of GISDI overall observation of Republic of Azerbaijan Presidential Elections, held on 11 April 2018 show that they were conducted in accordance with the principles of free and fair democratic elections, thus expressing the free will of people and protecting their political and civil rights," reads the report.
It notes that the legal electoral framework of the Republic of Azerbaijan complies with most international standards for free and fair elections and reflects national context.
"Voter list had been updated 40 days before the e-day and during the electoral campaign. The overall process of maintenance and update of the lists was transparent and well organized. CEC and some nongovermental organizations have been conducting a set of different projects with the aim to rise voters’ education and empower them to make informative choice and exercise their civil right to vote," reads the report.
GISDI stressed that the election day passed smoothly and the voting process on election day was well organized.
"The counting process was positively assessed by our observers. They have not indicated any serious problems, including intervention by unauthorized people," reads the report.
The final elections results, announced by CEC, were not surprising, according to GISDI.
"There is an impressive steadiness of the electoral quotas from the presidential elections in 2003 up to date. On the other hand, the ratings, registered in pre-election surveys as well as the results of the four parallel Exit Polls on e-day undoubtedly predicted the victory of Ilham Aliyev with 82-87 percent. He won with 86.02 percent of valid votes," reads the report.
GISDI further compared Azerbaijan with the stability island in the region and emphasized the existence of a public consensus between the ruling party and the political opposition.