OSCE BAKU HOLDS FIRST ELECTION BRIEFING FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000459

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM AJ
SUBJECT: OSCE BAKU HOLDS FIRST ELECTION BRIEFING FOR
AMBASSADORS

REF: BAKU 454

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.


1. (SBU) Summary: On May 7, OSCE Baku Head of Mission
Herrero Ansola held the first of planned monthly election
briefings for OSCE member states. He briefed the OSCE
members on logistics for the October presidential election,
including the likely 11 candidates, as well as planned OSCE
technical assistance. Herrero Ansola outlined pending
changes to the electoral code and law on freedom of assembly
and highlighted continuing, serious problems in the media
environment as a key issue that will affect the conduct of
the election. Several OSCE member states also expressed
concern about GOAJ legal action against the Election
Monitoring Center (reftel). We welcome the OSCE Baku
Office's stepped-up coordination activities. End summary.


2. (SBU) On May 7, OSCE Baku Head of Mission Jose Luis
Herrero Ansola held the first of a series of election
briefings for the Ambassadors of OSCE member states with
representation in Baku, as well as representatives of
international organizations including the United Nations, the
European Union, and the Council of Europe. Herrero Ansola
said that OSCE Baku would hold these meetings once a month
until the immediate pre-election period, at which point they
may take place more frequently. He said the purpose of the
meetings was to exchange information on the pre-election
period, and to explore areas of potential cooperation. (The
OSCE also is organizing regular, working-level election
assistance coordination meetings.)


3. (SBU) Herrero Ansola briefed the group on election
logistics, noting that per the current electoral code, the
GOAJ must officially announce the election date 120 days
prior, and the campaign period would start 60 days prior.
(NOTE: We understand that Parliament may change the draft
amendments to the electoral code to require the GOAJ to
announce an election 60 days prior, and to reduce the
campaign period to 21 days.) Herrero Ansola said there were
11 potential presidential candidates: incumbent President
Ilham Aliyev; Umid Party Chair Igbal Agazade; Azerbaijan
Democratic Party Chair Sardar Jalaloglu; Great Creation Party
Chair Fazail Gazanfaroglu; Musavat Party Chair Isa Gambar;
Muasir Musavat Party Chair Hafiz Hajiyev; Green Party Chair
Mais Gulaliyev; Civil Solidarity Party Chair Sabir
Rustamkhanli; Whole Popular Front Party Chair Gudrat
Hasanguliyev; Azerbaijan Public Forum Leader Eldar Namazov;
and Azerbaijan National Independence Party Chair Etibar
Mammadov. He also noted that the Azadliq bloc and the Open
Society Party might boycott the election.


4. (SBU) Herrero Ansola said that the draft amendments to the
law on freedom of assembly and the electoral code soon would
be discussed in Parliament, and noted that the changes needed
to be adopted by May in order to provide adequate time to
train election officials on the new procedures. He outlined
OSCE Baku's planned election activities, including training
local authorities and election commission members in election
procedures; funding a voter education program through the
Election Monitoring Center; training domestic election
observers; training ITV broadcasting staff; conducting a
series of roundtables on the role of media in elections, and
between police and media representatives; and conducting
joint public assembly management training for police officers
(to which the USG also is contributing). Council of Europe
(COE) Special Representative to Azerbaijan Denis Bribosia
said that the COE was planning election assistance in two
areas: training election officials and supporting the media.


5. (SBU) Herrero Ansola said the group must watch to ensure
that freedom of assembly be allowed equally to all
candidates. He noted the need to monitor media coverage on
Azerbaijan's seven television networks, which he said were
supposed to cover all candidates. The group also needed to
monitor the problem of interference in elections by local
authorities, he said, emphasizing that only election
officials should be involved in election processes. Finally,
he underscored the need for serious support of democracy in
Azerbaijan, in order to "avoid the mistakes of others in the
region." Herrero Ansola explained that OSCE Baku's mandate
and programs were completely separate from that of
OSCE/ODIHR, as was ODIHR's official assessment of the
election. He said that in order for ODIHR to send election
monitors, the GOAJ first must send an invitation letter to
ODIHR. At that point, he said, ODIHR would send a team to
assess observation needs for this election, and would then
field short- and long-term observers.


6. (SBU) The group briefly discussed the Ministry of

BAKU 00000459 002 OF 002


Justice's case against the Election Monitoring Center.
(NOTE: This briefing was prior to the court's May 14
decision to deregister and shut down the NGO.) Norwegian
Ambassador Jon Ramberg expressed his concern over recent
public comments by the GOAJ that were critical of the USG's
planned election assistance activities. Ambassador Derse
noted that there is a range of views in the GOAJ on this
assistance and the U.S. remains committed to providing
planned support for free and fair elections this fall.
Ramberg pointed out that the GOAJ's negative attitude could
have implications for others planning election assistance
programs. None of the other states present reported
experiencing such problems. Herrero Ansola set the next
election briefing for June 2.


7. (SBU) COMMENT: Under Herrero Ansola's leadership, the
OSCE Baku Office has greatly stepped up its coordination
activities. We greatly welcome his initiative, which stands
in marked contrast to the OSCE Baku Office's role in the 2005
parliamentary elections.
DERSE