Review of the Law on Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Azerbaijan

Since 1998, the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has been assisting the authorities of Azerbaijan to develop election legislation in line with OSCE commitments. In particular, in the course of 2000 the ODIHR provided assistance for the drafting of the Law on the Central Election Commission and the Law on Parliamentary Elections (the Law). On 30 May 2000, the ODIHR submitted to the authorities and representatives of political parties Preliminary Comments on the Law on Parliamentary Elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan (the Preliminary Comments), based on a draft Law provided by the authorities of Azerbaijan. Further discussions were subsequently held between the ODIHR experts and relevant authorities to clarify a number of the provisions contained in the draft Law. The following are Final Comments based on an unofficial translation of the Law, provided by the International Foundation for Election System. This document supplements the Preliminary Comments and is intended to be read in conjunction with that report. It provides comments on the final text as enacted on 5 July 2000 and amended on 21 July. The analysis emphasises some of the major areas of concern with the law and contains a number of recommendations for amendments and clarifications to improve the election legislation, in line with international standards and, in particular, the OSCE commitments formulated in the 1990 Copenhagen Document on the Human Dimension.