Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on U.S. State Department's assessment of country's recent parliamentary elections

"The US Department of State made a statement on November 8 on the parliamentary elections held on 7 November 2010 in Azerbaijan. This statement caused regret and surprise in Azerbaijan," the statement says.

"Thus, US Department of State's statement assessing elections in any country does not differ dramatically from assessment given to these elections by authoritative international organizations," it says in a statement.

"The US Department of State states “the November 7 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan did not meet international standards”. This statement refers to the conclusions made by election observation missions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, European Parliament. Nevertheless, the document cited does not feature assessment similar to the US Department of State`s conclusions."

"Along with some shortcomings, the document of the international organizations underlines that the elections in Azerbaijan were characterized by a peaceful and debate atmosphere and all opposition parties participated in the political process and observation mission assessed positively the voting in 90% of the polling stations. It shows the elections earned people`s trust in general," teh Foreign Ministry says.

"At the same time, the Government of Azerbaijan deems it duty that conduct of democratic, fair and transparent elections is a major aim of the state and along with praising the progress achieved in this direction, the Central Election Commission and respective government agencies will seriously investigate some shortcomings in the election process and take necessary measures," the Foreign MInistry statement reads.


/AzerTAc/