Ali Hasanov: "Azerbaijani authorities do not agree with the criticism of European observes about the presidential elections"

The Azerbaijani powers do not agree with the claims of observers of PACE, OSCE and European Parliament about the presidential elections held in the country, said chief of the public policy department of the presidential administration of Azerbaijan Ali Hasanov, according to Novosti-Azerbaijan.

"They state the failure to fulfill some commitments while holding the elections. We do not understand the part that says that some commitments have not been fulfilled, while the statement does not specify these facts.

We also do not understand the statement that fair conditions were not created in period of the electoral campaign, for, as we know, President Ilham Aliyev did not hold the electoral campaign. The agitation campaign was held by other candidates and Aliyev's authorized agents.

Therefore, we also do not understand the statement of unjust electoral competition", he told reporters Thursday, commenting on the report of the three European structures about results of the monitoring of presidential elections in Azerbaijan.

He said the Azerbaijani authorities do not understand what the representatives of the European structures imply, while speaking about commitments.

"Perhaps, they will give some explanations and we will provide the due response", noted Hasanov.

He said the most important is the fact that the elections were a serious progress.

"Elections were held normally, all candidates recognized the results of votes. Both the winning and the losing sides stressed the normal condition of elections", said the representative of the presidential administration.

Hasanov explains the assessment of the European observers by a gap in approaches to assessment of elections.

"Thus, a group of European parliamentarians noted yesterday that the elections were held normally and another part considers that elections were held not completely in line with the commitments. It is their subjective opinion and we accept the positions of both parties, considering that the truth is somewhere in the medium", said he.

According to Hasanov, these are the most democratic elections in the history of Azerbaijan,

"These elections were held on the higher level, in better conditions and involved a greater part of the population, as compared to the recent elections in the neighbor South Caucasus countries", said the chief of department.

He noted that no organization or a country can be more important than the trust of the people of Azerbaijan in the sphere of holding elections, which was proven by results of elections, when people entrusted their fate to Ilham Aliyev.

"Some countries want to put pressure on Azerbaijan by using double standards in the process of elections and therefore, their assessment of the elections was different. We know their position and it is not decisive for us. The opinion of the people is more important for us", concluded Hasanov.