New Report: How Democrats Collude with Autocrats: Azerbaijan’s Elections Rigged with International Help
Our latest OSINT report reveals how representatives from both democratic and autocratic states helped Aliyev’s regime create an image of international legitimacy around Azerbaijan’s fraudulent 2024 snap parliamentary election. On September 1, 2024, the New Azerbaijan Party, led by President Ilham Aliyev, claimed a narrow victory in Azerbaijan’s snap parliamentary election. Although voting day itself […]
Azerbaijan: Free Anar Mammadli before COP29
Azerbaijan: Free Anar Mammadli before COP29 International human rights organizations, civil society groups, and election observers call on European and national leaders to press Azerbaijan to release political prisoner Anar Mammadli and other activists ahead of COP29. Human Rights Violations Ahead of COP29 With less than three weeks until COP29 in Azerbaijan, we urge global […]
Statement: Azerbaijan 2024 parliamentary “elections”: No domestic observation possible
On September 1, 2024, Azerbaijan held snap parliamentary elections under heavily restricted conditions, with fundamental freedoms such as expression, assembly, association, and information severely curtailed. The Aliyev regime escalated repression, preventing independent media coverage and citizen election monitoring. Anar Mammadli, leader of a prominent election observation NGO and a Václav Havel Human Rights Prize laureate, […]
European Civil Society Call Upon New Secretary General of Council of Europe to Prioritise Human Rights in Azerbaijan
A wide group of European civil society organisations wrote to Alain Berset, new Secretary General of the Council of Europe, on his first day in office, calling upon him to prioritise the human rights crisis in Azerbaijan, marked by the detention of Vaclav Havel Award winner Anar Mammadli alongside over 300 other political prisoners. Alain […]
On the Results of the Snap Parliamentary Elections on September 1, 2024
EPDE monitored the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for September 1, 2024, in a long-term manner, including the nomination of candidates, pre-election campaigning, voting on election day, and the counting of votes. The monitoring of the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for September 1, 2024, is based on observations conducted by EPDE experts, including official reports and […]
Call to PACE Bureau to prioritise release of Anar Mammadli
In a context of a notable intensification of repression occurring in Azerbaijan in the aftermath of the presidential election on 7 February 2024 and the parliamentary election on 1 September 2024, we call upon PACE to prioritise the release of Anar Mammadli ahead of COP29. In their letter to the Bureau members of the Parliamentary Assembly of […]
Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia: pressure on human rights defenders intensifies
The human rights situation in some post-Soviet countries continues to deteriorate. It is particularly noticeable in Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Viasna offers a selection of repressions against human rights defenders, independent media representatives and public activists in August. Azerbaijan: “Abzas Media Case”, persecution of Anar Mammadli and new political prisoners New charges against those arrested […]
EPDE Observations on Pre-Election Environment for September 1, 2024, Snap Parliamentary Elections in Azerbaijan
EPDE notes that although the snap parliamentary election on September 1, falls six months after the last presidential election, there has been no political will demonstrated by the Azerbaijani authorities to improve election legislation and practices, or to address election complaints. The report covers the preliminary phase of the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for September […]
Press Statement: EPDE condemns crackdown on election observers in Azerbaijan
The European Platform for Democratic Elections strongly condemns the recent wave of crackdown on citizen election observers, human right defenders and independent journalists in Azerbaijan. Yesterday, our colleague Anar Mammadli, head of EPDE member organization Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS), which has been engaged in citizen election monitoring in Azerbaijan since 2001, was arrested […]
Statement of Solidarity with Detained Observers in Azerbaijan
The Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM) expresses its deep concern with the detainment of citizen election observers from the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS) in Azerbaijan. The arrest of nonpartisan citizen observers contributes to a climate of fear and hampers the rights of the people of Azerbaijan to provide independent oversight over their […]