New Azerbaijan Party condemns biased assessment of presidential election

Baku, April 14, AZERTAC The New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) has strongly condemned biased assessment by the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of the presidential election held in Azerbaijan on April 11. YAP said the statement released by the observation mission of the OSCE ODIHR, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe casts a shadow over objectivity and impartiality of the mission. “It is surprising and regrettable to see such an unfair and contradicting statement made by the observation mission of the OSCE ODIHR, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, while the election, which saw eight candidates run for presidency, was monitored by nearly 60,000 local and 894 international observers, and was hailed by the vast majority of international observers representing 59 countries and 61 international organizations.” “As the New Azerbaijan Party, which nominated President Ilham Aliyev as its presidential candidate, who won the election with 86.03 per cent of votes, we consider the statement of preliminary findings and conclusions made by the OSCE ODIHR, OSCE PA and PACE observation mission as unfair and biased, and strongly condemn this kind of prejudiced assessment of the presidential election, which was held in a free, transparent and democratic environment,” YAP said. The New Azerbaijan Party expressed its hope that in its final statement on the Azerbaijani presidential election, the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will remove clear impartiality and disregard of the facts, and show respect for the will of the Azerbaijani voters.