Azerbaijan: opposition states falsification of elections

In the evening on December 23, Azerbaijan finalized its municipal elections. They were attended by 1,462,070 voters, or 31.86 percent of the voters' list. As reported by Ramin Guseinov, head of the centre named "Elections", the outcomes are still unknown.

In the opinion of Sardar Dzhalaloglu, leader of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (DPA), the voter turnout in fact was less than 10 percent.

MP Igbal Agazade, leader of another opposition party - "Umid" (Hope) - believes that the turnout information delivered by the polling stations to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) was overestimated at least twice. "Same were toured over many polling stations, and they voted for several times," said the parliamentarian.

Isa Gambar, head of the "Musavat" Party, has named these municipal elections the "most shameful" for the whole period after declaration of independence of Azerbaijan.

In Nakhichevan, Malakhat Nasibova, a correspondent of the "Turan" Agency and the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty", Ilgar Nasibov, a correspondent of Radio Liberty, and local employees of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety were not admitted to polling districts for covering the elections.

On December 22, Mazakhir Panakhov, head of the CEC, said at a press conference that there were no restrictions for journalists' covering the elections and visiting polling stations.

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