Azerbaijan: A claim by Azerbaijan's ruling party to have achieved an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections this weekend was thrown into doubt yesterday when international observers backed opposition claims of widespread fraud.
The Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) criticised aspects of Sunday's poll, such as restrictions on freedom of assembly and an electoral commission biased towards pro-government candidates.
It also criticised irregularities that followed the closing of polling stations on Sunday evening.
"In the assessment of our observers, 43 per cent of the ballot-counting processes were bad or very bad," the head of the Council of Europe's monitoring team, Leo Platvoet, told reporters. "It's a sad figure."
"Yesterday's elections did not meet a number of OSCE commitments for democratic elections," agreed Alcee Hastings, US congressman and head of the OSCE's team of 650 monitors.
Their conclusions are likely to strengthen the resolve of Azerbaijan's three-party opposition coalition, Azadlig, to contest the legality of the elections.
With votes from nearly 93 per cent of the precincts counted, Azadlig candidates were ahead in only 10 of the country's 125 parliamentary constituencies, the Central Election Committee said.
Azerbaijan's authoritarian governing party, meanwhile, was leading in 62 races, with independent candidates - many of them affiliated to the government - ahead in the rest.
Citing 21,000 registered violations, Azadlig leader Isa Gambar claimed he had evidence that "the results in 100 out of 125 constituencies are so doubtful they should be cancelled".
The allegations of fraud do not come as much of a surprise to most of the electorate, after an election day marked by unexpectedly low turnout - around 40 per cent in most constituencies.
In the southern town of Lenkiran, local election observers talked of government supporters being bused from one polling station to another.
The transparent voting boxes in several polling stations in central Baku showed evidence of simultaneous multiple voting, with three or four voting slips folded in together.
But the worst irregularities appear to have taken place after 7pm when polling ended.
"I've been told several stories of local electoral commission heads simply disappearing with polling boxes, right in front of the eyes of international observers", said Matilda Bogner, local representative for the Washington-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch.
Following the release of the OSCE's report last evening, Azerbaijan's Central Election Committee issued a statement promising to look into these reports of irregularities.
However, few expect opposition calls for a rerun of the election to be heeded. It is equally unclear whether the OSCE will follow up its criticisms with direct action.
Monitoring chief Leo Platvoet suggested that Azerbaijan's representatives on the Council of Europe might lose their right of speech and voting.
However no sanctions followed the 2003 presidential elections, which were preceded by fraud and followed by violence. An OSCE report then was even more critical. It seems likely that Azerbaijan's strategic position at the centre of the corridor funnelling Caspian oil westwards will protect it once again from anything more serious.