AZERBAIJAN ELECTION 2008: VIEW FROM CIS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 000978

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/CARC AND DRL FOR WENDY SILVERMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM AJ
SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN ELECTION 2008: VIEW FROM CIS

Classified By: Political and Economic Counselor Robert Garverick, for r
easons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On October 9 Embassy officials met with
Yevgeniy Sloboda, head of the CIS Election Observation
Mission and a citizen of Belarus. The CIS Mission has 23
long-term and 400 short-term observers in Azerbaijan for the
election. Sloboda stated that Azerbaijan has all conditions
necessary for a free and transparent election, and cited
several pieces of evidence to this effect. The lack of
professionalism of the mission, and Sloboda's one-sided
presentation that focused on "free and transparent" elections
rather than "free and fair," and on national legislation
rather than international standards, gave the impression that
the CIS would give Azerbaijan's election a positive review.
The GOAJ may use this CIS report to counter criticism from
others in the international community, such as the
OSCE/ODIHR. END SUMMARY


2. (C) On October 9 Embassy officials met with Yevgeniy
Sloboda, head of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
election observation mission in Azerbaijan. Sloboda is a
citizen of Belarus, and says he has observed every election
in the CIS since 2001. Sloboda explained that by a unanimous
decision of the Executive Committee of the CIS in 2003, the
CIS has a legal right to observe elections in every CIS
country. Sloboda stated that the main principle of this
observation is non-involvement in internal state affairs.
The goal is to judge how much the election conforms to
national legislation. Sloboda further stated that when they
witness misconduct, they try to help people avoid it. He did
not explain, however, how the observers help to avoid
misconduct without meddling in internal state affairs.


3. (C) Sloboda claimed that the main idea of the CIS
mission is fair and transparent elections, which he said was
the same goal as the OSCE. Therefore, for the last three
years, the CIS has had a cooperation agreement with
OSCE/ODIHR. Sloboda said that he has met with the head of
the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission in Azerbaijan, Ambassador
Boris Frlec of Slovenia, whom he knows personally, and they
have exchanged opinions and experiences.


4. (C) Sloboda said that this is the fourth election the
CIS has observed in Azerbaijan. The CIS has 23 long term
observers and will have 400 short term observers. In
addition to the Baku headquarters, they have regional
headquarters in Khachmaz, Ganja, Lankaran, and Nakhchivan.
The Executive Secretary of the CIS Sergei Lebedev will come
to Azerbaijan to observe the election. Sloboda used the
large number of CIS observers as proof of Azerbaijan's
transparency, as Russia only invited 70 CIS observers to its
Duma elections, and Russia is much larger than Azerbaijan.
The CIS mission will release its final statement on the
election on the morning of October 16, which will be before
the release of the OSCE/ODIHR statement later in the day.


5. (C) According to their long term observation, the CIS
considers Azerbaijan to have all the necessary conditions for
a free and transparent election. Sloboda stated that the
proof of this is that the President and Minister of Internal
Affairs have stated that local officials have no right to
interfere in the elections. Furthermore, 100 polling
stations have been renovated for this election, and the
Precinct Election Commissions have been given training by the
Central Election Commission (CEC). Sloboda considers the CEC
to be very transparent, as observers can participate in their
meetings. Furthermore, Sloboda believes that all candidates
have had equal rights during the campaign, but the opposition
candidates have not been as effective in their rallies as the
current President has.

COMMENT
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6. (C) Throughout the discussion, Sloboda used the phrase
"free and transparent" election, as opposed to the more
common standard in the international community of a "free and
fair election." This distinction is important in Azerbaijan,
where the actual voting procedures on Election Day may be
relatively transparent, but the political climate of the
country makes it more difficult to call this election "fair."
In addition, Sloboda's focus on whether the election will
meet Azerbaijan's national legislative requirements, as
opposed to OSCE/ODIHR's focus on the election meeting
international standards, sets a lower bar for Azerbaijan to
pass. The CIS observation mission's headquarters is a small
group of rooms in a mediocre hotel in downtown Baku, with
just a few computers on which their couple of staff works.
Overall, Sloboda gave the impression that their mission was
to give a positive report of Azerbaijan's election. The GOAJ
may use this report to counter criticism about the election
from the rest of the international community.
DERSE