Documents

Representatives of the Civil Network OPORA reported that the misuse of administrative resources and transparency of campaign financing became two major challenges in February during the Presidential election campaign. They further reported on the establishment of district election commissions and on instances of false accusations launched against certain candidates of being involved in vote buying schemes.

The fifth report includes monitoring results using the framework of the Promo-LEX Observation Mission (OM) for the period of 6 February – 20 February 2019 in the run-up to the parliamentary elections taking place on the 24 February 2019.

The Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS) published the final findings of its observation of the April 11, 2018 Presidential election in Azerbaijan covering all major election processes – the nomination of candidates, pre-election campaigning, election day voting and vote counting.

OPORA has published its first observation report on the presidential election campaign where it has been recording the wide-scale early campaigning efforts organized by over ten potential candidates over the last few months. There remains some legal uncertainty about the character of such campaigning and there is also a problem of shadow campaign financing occuring during the official election process.

Promo-LEX Association launched its third Observation Mission Report on the Parliamentary Elections of 24 February 2019. It reveals a series of worrying trends, in particular, intimidation of Promo-LEX observers, early start of electoral campaigns, misuse of administrative resources and offering of electoral gifts, defective reporting of expenditure by initiative groups, as well as other cases related to non-observance of some legal provisions by the public administration.

The booklet "Politically biased election observation—a threat to the integrity of international institutions" contains EPDE reports by Anton Shekhovtsov on politically biased election observation missions to the presidential election and the regional elections in Russia, the illegitimate presidential election in Crimea, the elections in Cambodia and Zimbabwe and the illegitimate “general elections” in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which all took place in 2018.

The Promo-LEX Association has launched the first Observation Mission Report on the Parliamentary Elections of February 24, 2019. According to the observers’ findings, the analysis of the pre-electoral context, the electoral legislation and the relevant regulations, Promo-LEX identified several irregularities that occurred during the period of July 27 – December 10, 2018.