GUAM observers group: "Presidential elections in Azerbaijan were held in line with international standards - UPDATED

October 16

15:00

11 NGOs, watching the presidential elections, declared their position regarding presidential elections, held in Azerbaijan.

According to APA, chairman of the Youth Enlightenment Organization Eldar Aslanov noted that elections, mostly, met the demands of the Electoral Code.

-----------
14:38

According to Novosti-Azerbaijan, head of the Center "For Civil Society" Eldar Ismaylov considers that presidential elections in Azerbaijan were held on a good level, which was owing to the country's powers.

The powers are interested in good conduction of elections and voters are aware of it", he told a press conference Thursday.

------------
13:35

Presidential elections in Azerbaijan were arranged and held in line with international commitments and standards of democratic elections, including commitments and standards of the OSCE and Council of Europe, as well as the national legislation, rules and procedures, developed by the Central Electoral Commission of Azerbaijan, reports the GUAM observers group, according to Novosti-Azerbaijan.

"As for the overall electoral process of organization of elections and activity of commissions at the voting stations, the GUAM group of observers has no significant remarks.

The elections were held in a spirit of competition and can be positively assessed as free and fair", says the statement.

The statement of the GUAM observers group is based on results of observations at 31 voting stations and in all constituencies of Baku.

The group comprised 8 people - two deputies of the Georgian Parliament, three representatives of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and two representatives of the Ukraine embassy to Azerbaijan, as well as GUAM Secretary General Valeri Chechelashvili, heading the group.

---------------
13:15

CIS observation mission recognized presidential elections of Azerbaijan as legitimate, open and transparent, said Sergey Lebedev, head of the mission and head of the executive committee and CIS executive secretary.

In particular, according to the statement of the mission, "elections were held in line with the norms of electoral law, working in the country". Moreover, the CIS observers state that "the elections are an important factor for the further democratization of the public life in the country".

International observers from the CIS, including about 400 people, proposed other international observers, sharing their assessment, to join this statement.

CIS observation mission has monitored the elections in Azerbaijan since August 1 by the invitation of the Azerbaijani side, said Lebedev.

--------------
11:45

European and American observers recognized the presidential elections in Azerbaijan as meeting democratic standards.

Interfax-Azerbaijan stresses that according to the final report of the European observers, which involved 41 experts from 11 countries of the continent, "the day of elections was mostly held normally".

"Observers at the stations, where the monitoring was held, consider that the voting was held normally. No serious problem was fixed during the elections", says the report.

The mission of European observers noted that there were no problems in calculation of votes, which was open and transparent.

In turn, head of a delegation of American observers Gwen Belcort told a briefing that elections held in Azerbaijan are featured as fair and free.

She said all conditions have been created for the free expression of will on the voting day.

The US delegation comprised 40 people.

-------------
10:45

Day.Az reports with reference to Sechkiler information center that by preliminary data about 89.04% of votes (2,329,625 voters) voted for working president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

Igbal Aghazade gained 2.78% (72,807 votes)
Fazil Gazanfaroghlu - 2.40% (62,908 votes)
Gudrat Hasanquliyev - 2.22% (58,196 votes)
Gulamhuseyn Alibeyli - 2.18% (67,069 votes)
Fuad Aliyev - 0.74% (19,571 votes)
afiz Hajiyev - 0.61% (16,156 votes).

The voting involved 75.64% of votes (3,681,529 citizens).

------------
10:30

During the observations, I have not recorded any irregularities in the voting stations in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan, said EU special representative of South Caucasus Peter Semneby, according to Interfax-Azerbaijan.

"I do not want to assess the elections now, as I have visited only several stations. On the whole, the elections were held normally in places, which I visited", said Semneby.

It should be noted that the special representative, who held observations in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, visited several constituencies, met with their chairmen, heads of the autonomous republic and regions.

Presidential candidate Gudrat Hasanquliyev, like other candidates, also congratulated Ilham Aliyev with the victory.

---------------
October 15

23:44


In line with an exit poll of independent research center ELS, presidential candidate Ilham Aliyev gained 82.6% of votes, according to Novosti-Azerbaijan.

Ibgal Aghazade was second with 5%, Gudrat Hasanquliyev third with 4.21$, Gulamhuseyn Alibeyli fourth with 3.58%, Fazil Gazanfaroghlu fifth with 2.4%, Fuad Aliyev sixth with 1.23% and Hafiz Hajiyev seventh with 0.98%. The ELS center observed elections in 118 constituencies at 800 voting stations.

---------------
23:36

Azerbaijani presidential candidate Fazil Gazanfaroghlu held a press conference in Baku.

He said that there were no irregularities in the poll and the voter turnout was normal.
Congratulating incumbent Ilham Aliyev on his reelection, Fazil Gazanfaroghlu argued that he came a distant second according to the results of the vote in large cities.

He expressed disagreement with the exit-poll results. He said he will give further information for media after the official results are released.

---------------
23:27

According to Interfax-Azerbaijan, presidential candidate from Umid Party Igbal Aghazade admits his defeat at the presidential elections.

"Our observers and CEC members from 48 constituencies say that 10-12% of citizens voted for me", said he at a press conference.

"Unfortunately, during these elections our party had to fight not only powers but also opposition parties, boycotting the elections and organizations, holding an exit poll, which influenced the public opinion before voting", said the candidate. Nevertheless, he considers that the protest electorate of the country mostly voted for him.

Aghazade congratulated President Ilham Aliyev with the victory in the elections.

"As a deputy and a candidate from the Umit Party, I wish success to the newly elected president. Being an opposition party we will congratulated the new head of the state and take this step as a new stage of reconciliation of powers with opposition", said the candidate.

At the same time, he stressed some law offences during voting, in particular, he said there were cases when fingers of voters were not marked with inks and some voted more than once.

"But I think the results of elections should not be assessed in this sense. We have earlier stated the dissatisfactory situation before elections in the sphere of freedom of press and assembly. Yet the electoral campaign was satisfactory", said Aghazade.

He noted that the party intends to appeal to the CEC due to the fixed violations during elections.

------------
23:17

According to Novosti-Azerbaijan, Accel Fischer, representative of a group of observers from the European states and member of German Bundestag, considers that most developing countries should use Azerbaijan's experience in holding democratic elections.

"Elections were really open and democratic", said he.

According to the European observer, mass medias of Azerbaijan broadly highlighted the electoral campaigns of all the presidential candidates, allowing country's voters to learn more about all candidates and make their choice.

--------------
23:11

The delegation of observers from the Islamic Republic of Iran which followed the presidential elections in Azerbaijan released the final statement. According to information APA received from the delegation, Iranian observers followed the presidential elections in capital Baku and in a number of regions of Azerbaijan. Iranian delegation observed no breach of laws in any polling stations they visited: “The voting procedure was held in quiet and fair atmosphere and the electors demonstrated activeness during the voting process”.
The delegation consisting of observers from the Islamic Republic of Iran congratulated the organizers of the elections and wished progress and prosperity to the state and people of Azerbaijan.

--------------
23:08

According to Interfax-Azerbaijan, baroness Okahoin, who also observed the elections, voiced regret about the boycott of presidential elections by opposition.

"Their boycott is nothing but negative. I consider that all political parties must participate in the elections to influence the political life of the country", said she.

She noted that the current practice of Azerbaijan can be widely applied in other countries. In particular, she said hanging all lists of voters on the voting stations, establishment of placards with information about the platform of candidates, lack of propaganda and pressure on voters beyond the stations was a positive moment.

She said setting free telephones at the stations, establishment of a hotline with ombudsman for complaining was an unprecedented case. "This practice can be applied by other democratic states. I do not doubt that Azerbaijan has completely fulfilled its duties on conduction of democratic elections".

---------------
22:58

According to Novosti-Azerbaijan, representative of the group of European observers Otto von Hauser considers that elections in Azerbaijan were held in a democratic environment in full compliance with international standards.

"The monitoring of elections involved over a throusand of international observers. Falsifications would be impossible with such a great number of observers and such a strong control", noted he.

Another representative of the European observers, Bulgarian parliamentary Solomon Passi said that the elections recorded the highest per capita percentage of international observers among all other elections, he has ever been a participant to as an observer.

"I have observed most elections, including in Ukraine and Georgia, where elections were recognized as democratic and transparent. I admit that elections in Azerbaijan were held on the same level", said he.

He noted that he visited most voting stations, where he talked to local observers, including from oppositional parties and all of them confirmed that the elections were fair and democratic.

--------------
22:55

According to Novosti-Azerbaijan, by the information of the informational center of elections of the Central Electoral Commission, the participation of voters in the presidential elections by 19:00 local time made 75.65% (3,681,529 people).

Low activeness was observed in district electoral commission No 14 of the Azizbeyov district of Baku (80.45%), No 4 of Nakhchivan (79.71%), No 81 of Beylagan (77.08%), No 70 of Masalli (76.85%) and No 121 of Lachin (76.76%).

Calculation of votes continues.

--------------
21:37

“Free, Transparent, Fair Elections” Coalition publicized the final results of the exit-poll held in the presidential elections. The coalition told APA that they observed about 2000 polling stations of 57 ConECs and held exit poll in 488 polling stations.
According to the results of the exit poll 73.1 percent of the citizens included into the voters’ lists participated in the elections. Presidential candidate Ilham Aliyev got 85.7 percent of the votes and won the elections.

Collected ballots of other candidates for Presidency were as follows: Igbal Agazadeh 3.5%, Gulamhuseyn Aliyev 3.1%, Fazil Gazanfaroglu 2.7%, Gudrat Hasanguliyev 2.5%, Fuad Aliyev 1.4%, Hafiz Hajiyev 0.8%.

The preliminary results of the Coalition’s exit poll will be made public on October 16.

Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan (AVCIYA) and ELS Independent Research Center also publicized the initial results of the exit polls.

APA reports that ELS Independent Research Center and AVCIYA held exit poll in 800 polling stations in the presidential elections on October 15, 2008. According to the results of the research, 70.6 percent of the voters participated in the elections.

Azerbaijan’s presidential candidate Ilham Aliyev got 82.6 percent of the votes and left the other candidates behind.

Collected ballots of candidates for Presidency were as follows: Igbal Agazadeh 5.0%, Gudrat Hasanguliyev 4.21%, Gulamhuseyn Aliyev 3.58%, Fazil Gazanfaroglu 2.4%, Fuad Aliyev 1.23%, Hafiz Hajiyev 0.98%

Full information about the results of the exit poll will be given at the press conference tomorrow.

---------------
21:11

According to Novosti-Azerbaijan, members of the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan are marking the victory of their candidate, working president and chairman of the party Ilham Aliyev.

Activists and young members of the party are directing towards the Sahil metro station, near which there is an office of the party. The representatives of the ruling party are waving flags of Azerbaijan and flags of the Yeni Azerbaijan party, chanting slogans in support of I.Aliyev.

A concert is arranged at 21:00 in honor of the expected victory of their candidate and deputy chairman of the party Ali Ahmedov will deliver a press conference by results of elections.

---------------
20:50

Rey monitoring center has declared the results of an exit poll, held during presidential elections.

According to Novosti-Azerbaijan, head of the center Rizvan Abbasov reported that Ilham Aliyev became the leader gaining 80.5% of votes.

Gulamhusen Alibeyli got 5.44%
Igbal Aghazade - 4.74%
Gudrat Hasanquliyev - 4.65%
Fazil Gazanfaroghlu - 3.92%
Fuad Aliyev - 0.9%
Hafiz Hajiyev - 0.66%.

Within the whole day of presidential elections of Azerbaijan 68.5% of voters came to the voting stations.

The exit-poll was held in 64 constituencies, about 500 voting stations throughout the country, including Nakhchivan.

-------------
20:37

Nakhchivan Central Electoral Commission declared results of voting by 19:00.

According to the Central Electoral Commission, the voting involved 90.9% - 225,571 people.

The voters were most active in Sharur-Sadarak constituency No 1 - 92.2% and passive in Shahbuz-Babek constituency No 5- 89.6%.

It should be noted that the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic accounts for 316 voting stations, established in 7 constituencies. 33 OSCE observers and 12 CIS representatives monitored the voting process here.

Day.Az, APA, Gazeta.ru