ANDREAS GROSS: AZERBAIJAN WITH REGRESSING DEMOCRACY IS PATIENT PLACED IN REANIMATION WARD AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE
16:20 16/10/2013 ” ANALYSIS
Andreas Gross MP, former Rapporteur of PACE on Azerbaijan, was a PACE
monitor at the presidential election on October 9 at Gedabak area. He
shared his observations with radio “Liberty.”
Gross told that he witnessed several violations in remote,
small villages of Azerbaijan: ballot box stuffing, voting process
intervention, exploitation of administrative resources, etc. “I watched
the vote count toll 10 o’clock, but I was not allowed to participate
in the process, especially to check whom the votes in the ballots
are given for. I could not figure out where the three extra ballots
came from. However, the violations registered by me did not change
the situation: the incumbent president received 93% of the vote,”
the MEP says.
As the former rapporteur on Azerbaijan notes, all the observations
will be discussed at PACE Bureau during its meeting in Vienna and
Paris in November. He hoped that during the discussion of the report
on Azerbaijan in 2014 the situation occurred during the election will
also be taken into account.
“In 2000, I was an observer in Sumgait. Early in the morning, an hour
before the opening of the polling station, 100 ballots in favor of
the “Yeni Azerbaijan” party were found in a safe. I, as head of the
OSCE and PACE delegation, assured President Heydar Aliyev that it was
unacceptable. After that, he decided to hold by-elections in 7 polls.
It was a requirement for Azerbaijan’s membership to the Council of
Europe. In 2003, I was watching the elections in Ganja. Until midnight,
together with my Finnish colleague, we were watching the vote count,
after which the head of the commission confessed: “Mr.
Gross was here all the time; we could not have falsified anything.”
There Ilham Aliyev received 50% of the vote,” Andreas Gross told.
According to the MEP, in Ganja, in 2003, he could see the presence of
active and industrious opposition against the background of limited
freedoms, while today the Azerbaijani society lacks that energy. The
opposition is tired of the repressions and migrates. Those gathering
signatures for opposition candidates are arrested and their family
members are intimidated.
“I and many others have emphasized before that there is no tangible
progress on the issue of pluralism, freedom, open discussions, real
public debates. This is not the first time that the OSCE and PACE
reports differ. Only this time, the OSCE acted more openly, honestly
and in good conscience. After all, their observations are based
on numerous and long-term observations through the whole country,”
said Gross.
Member of PACE observers’ delegation also disagreed with the opinion
of R. Walter, the head of delegation, who said that the elections
in Azerbaijan were free, transparent and fair. “He only spoke about
the elections day. If you analyze his statement, you will see that
it fundamentally contradicts to all the elements of the OSCE Mission
statement,” Gross said, and explained that the OSCE had more extensive
and serious base, and that base is not being ready by the time when
the deputies publish their view points based only on the Election Day.
“We have been thinking about this problem long ago and we will continue
the discussion. If we continue working apart from each other, it
would only serve the anti-democratic, oligarchic interests. It would
not contribute to the progress of the democratic processes.
Today, Azerbaijan experience a setback in democracy issues,” Andreas
Gross notes.
PACE representative noted that many people foresaw such a result
for the elections in advance, and the presidency of Azerbaijan at
the Council of Europe is not related to the democratic achievements,
but only to the Latin alphabet, by which Azerbaijan follows Austria,
which will take the presidency from Armenia. “Of course, when the
leader of football championship loses all the matches, it causes
confusion and gives rise to questions just like Azerbaijan fails in the
Council of Europe in the human rights and democracy championship. I
understand that the Council of Europe is not the Champions League,
and is not a democracy and human rights school. It is a hospital with
different patients in it and Azerbaijan which needs urgent treatment,
is placed in reanimation department,” noted Andreas Gross.
According to him, in countries where oil and gas have a long history,
while democracy does not, the possible development is limited. “In
Azerbaijan, the democracy process is particularly difficult, because
with a few exceptions, the European governments are trying to ensure
energy security without thinking of democratic issues. They repeat the
mistakes of Egypt, Tunisia and Syria. The shortcomings of dictators in
these countries were forgiven, for the sake of short-term benefits. As
a result, the reputation and values of the West today are endangered.
However, I am confident that the changes will be by the initiative of
the Azerbaijani society. As the failure, contradictions and severity
of the regime are so obvious today that it will not last long,”
says the ex-reporter on Azerbaijan.
Source: Panorama.am