OSCE on the Azeri Election

For those who’ve not taken a gander at it yet, the OSCE’s preliminary report on the Azeri parliamentary election (PDF) is available. Their press release is here. They do identify some improvements, but the general determination is that this election–particularly vote counting and tabulation–doesn’t cut it.

Among the many shenanigans detailed in the report, the OSCE reports:

• Intimidation of observers in 17% of polling stations visited
• A failure to post results protocols as required by law in 54% of stations visited
• Tampering with results protocols in 15% of stations visited
• A failure to follow inking procedures at 11% of visited sites
• The expulsion of domestic observers from polling sites
• YAP party officials and local government officials attempting to influence voters in pollings locations
• Videotaping of voting and attempts to match voters with their votes

There’s much more in the report and surely more to come.

I’ve collected loads of stories on the election here. Also be sure to check in with neweurasia and Blogrel for much more on the election.

Many thanks to Ben for posting updates over the weekend.

This post was written by...

Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.

Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.