News - EU reports serious violations at extraordinary parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan

The European Union has issued a statement emphasizing the facts of serious violations at the early parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.“On September 1, early parliamentary elections were held in the Republic of Azerbaijan. According to the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, the elections took place in a rigid political and legal environment that failed to ensure genuine pluralism and resulted in a lack of competition. While the voting process was orderly and generally assessed as efficient, serious irregularities and failures in important safeguards, particularly in the counting of votes, were noted, raising questions about the integrity of the process. The OSCE/ODIHR EOM also noted that the elections took place against a backdrop of continued suppression of dissent. The European Union calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to take into account and implement the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations regarding these and previous elections. The EU is ready to assist in this process,” the EU External Action Service said in a statement.Earlier, the opposition parties, the National Council of Democratic Forces and Musavat, called for the invalidation of the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, stating that the process was unconstitutional.