Isa Gambar to REGNUM: We urge new elections (Azerbaijan)

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Leader of the Azerbaijani “Musavat” Party Isa Gambar told REGNUM what the opposition wants from the authorities.

According to Gambar, at the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan the opposition applied a very effective system of observing the electoral process. As the result, the opposition found over 30,000 gross violations of the electoral law on the day of voting. 21104 violations were registered during the voting process, and the rest – during ballots counting. The huge number of violations does not let the opposition pronounce the results of the elections valid. The opposition calls for new elections, really fair, democratic and free. As Gambar said, the opposition’s opinion about mass fraud at the elections was confirmed by the preliminary report of the OSCE observers’ group. The report says, that the elections do not meet the international standards, and gives a significant example: at 43% of the polling stations the ballots counting was carried out badly or very badly. The claims of the authorities about the democratic nature of the elections look at least illogical, thinks the “Musavat” leader.

According to the data obtained by the opposition observers, violations were registered in 100 from 125 constituencies, which distorted the outcome of the elections. The next day the “Azadlyg” bloc headquarters did a great job and classified the violations, however, the work still continues.

As Gambar believes, the authorities will not cancel the election results of their own free will. Two factors could coerce the authorities to cancel the outcome – social and political pressure by the people and tough stand of the international agencies.

However, Gambar found it difficult to forecast the position of the international organizations. According to him, the preliminary report by the OSCE shows that international organizations are adequate in assessing the situation in Azerbaijan, which lets him hope that the international agencies would adhere to the tough position on the fairness and democratic nature of the recent elections.

Commenting on the further opposition actions, Gambar stated that the meeting at the Victory Square let them look in the future optimistically. Tens of thousands of people came to express their civil position despite the threat of punishment by the authorities. These people are in the mood to defend their choice, stressed the opposition leader.

Explaining why the opposition leaders decided not to continue the protest action that started on Sunday, Gambar that the opposition plans to fight to the end, meaning new parliamentary elections, but the fight will be carried out within framework of the Constitution. He pointed out that the opposition has no plans to repeat the scenarios of the Ukrainian Maydan, when people remained at the square even for the night.

Summing up, Isa Gambar noted that there are no democratic forces in the Azerbaijani government. As he put it, “each country has its own way,” and the Azerbaijani way means that “a strong opposition led by ‘Azadlyg’ bloc will gain its own way to the democratic reforms in the country.”