BAKU — The Group for Safety and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has slammed Azerbaijan’s snap presidential election for being held in a ”restrictive setting” and missing real pluralism with incumbent strongman Ilham Aliyev on the verge of a landslide victory that may hand him a fifth consecutive time period as president.
Aliyev, who referred to as the early election following Baku’s swift and decisive victory over ethnic Armenian separatists within the breakaway area of Nagorno-Karabakh, confronted no opposition amid a crackdown on unbiased media and the absence of any actual contender.
The Central Election Fee mentioned early on February 8 that with simply over 93 p.c of the ballots counted, Aliyev HAD garnered 92.05 p.c of the votes. Election officers reported turnout of greater than 76 p.c of eligible voters.
”Whereas six different candidates participated within the marketing campaign, none of them convincingly challenged the incumbent president’s insurance policies of their campaigns, leaving voters with none real various,” the OSCE observer mission mentioned in a assertion issued on February 8.
”Whereas preparations for the election had been environment friendly {and professional}, it lacked real pluralism and significant voices had been constantly stifled…. The marketing campaign remained low-key all through, lacked any significant public engagement, and was not aggressive,” the OSCE observer mission mentioned.
In line with the Central Election Fee, Zahid Oruj positioned far behind within the vote with simply 2.19 p.c, whereas Fazil Mustafa got here third with 2 p.c. Not one of the different 4 ersatz candidates obtained greater than 2 p.c.
Musavat and the Individuals’s Entrance of Azerbaijan (APFP), the 2 events in Azerbaijan that provide real opposition to Aliyev — who has exercised authoritarian management over the nation since assuming energy from his father, Heydar, in 2003 — boycotted the race.
The APFP on February 8 introduced that it doesn’t acknowledge the outcomes of the election.
”There was no actual election because the polls had been held with out competitors, freedoms had been fully restricted, [the voting took place] in an setting of worry, threats, and administrative terror, and the declared outcomes will not be an expression of the desire of the folks and are illegitimate,” the APFP mentioned in an announcement.
A presidential election had not been scheduled to happen till 2025, however Aliyev, bolstered by Baku’s recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh, introduced the early vote in December to benefit from the battlefield victory.
Irregularities had been reported because the vote occurred. Observers ”famous vital shortcomings, primarily on account of problems with secrecy of the vote, a scarcity of safeguards in opposition to a number of voting, indications of poll field stuffing, and seemingly equivalent signatures on the voter lists,” the OSCE mentioned.
RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service additionally collected reviews of alleged irregularities, together with so-called carousel voting, the place people are transported to a number of polling stations to vote greater than as soon as and poll tampering.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Aliyev in a cellphone name on February 8, based on an announcement on the Azerbaijani president’s web site.
”The heads of state reaffirmed their confidence that allied and strategic partnership relations would proceed to develop throughout varied fields and mentioned the prospects for cooperation,” the assertion mentioned.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy additionally congratulated Aliyev in a message on X, previously Twitter.
”Congratulations to President Ilham Aliyev on his reelection,” Zelenskiy wrote, including, ”I worth mutual help for our states’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Whereas Aliyev has voiced help for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Azerbaijan has maintained shut ties with each Moscow and Kyiv.
The 62-year-old Aliyev has stayed in energy via a collection of elections marred by irregularities and accusations of fraud. Underneath his authoritarian rule, political exercise and human rights have been stifled.
He referred to as the snap election simply months after Azerbaijani forces retook Nagorno-Karabakh area in a blitz offensive in September from ethnic Armenian forces who had managed it for 3 many years. The offensive pressured greater than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the area, leaving it practically abandoned.
As Aliyev’s reputation shot up dramatically following Azerbaijan’s victory in Karabakh, a crackdown on unbiased media and democratic establishments intensified within the nation.
A number of unbiased Azerbaijani journalists had been incarcerated after Baku took over Karabakh on varied prices that the journalists and their supporters have referred to as trumped up and politically motivated.
”Extremely restrictive media laws in addition to latest arrests of essential journalists have hindered the media from working freely and led to widespread self-censorship, limiting the scope for unbiased journalism and significant debate,” the OSCE assertion famous.