AZERBAIJAN - Nov.6 - Aliyev Accused Of Vote Rigging.In a hard-hitting report, the Council of Europe Council of Europe, international organization founded in 1949 to promote greater unity within Europe and to safeguard its political and cultural heritage by promoting human rights and democracy. The council is headquartered in Strasbourg, France. and the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE OSCE Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe OSCE Organisation Pour la Sécurité et la Coopération en Europe (French: Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) OSCE Objective Structured Clinical Examination ) condemn "serious irregularities" in the Nov.5 Parliamentary elections in which Pres. Heydar Aliyev's ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party (YAP Yap (yăp, yäp), state (1990 pop. 10,886), c.47 sq mi (121 sq km), in the W Caroline Islands, W Pacific. One of four states comprising the Federated States of Micronesia, the island group was formerly part of the U.S. ) won a landslide victory In politics, a landslide victory (or just a landslide) is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming majority in an election. Landslides can occur when one candidate or party is perceived as far superior to its opponents, through unfair . The Central Election Commission gives YAP 70.8% of the vote, with 70% counted, and claims the turnout was almost 70% - a figure disputed by the 150 international monitors who said the turnout was low. The report says: "Voting was marred by numerous instances of serious irregularities including a completely flawed counting process, manipulated turnout figures, production of either false protocols or no protocols at all, multiple voting Noun 1. multiple voting - the act of voting in more than one place by the same person at the same election (illegal in U.S.) balloting, vote, voting, ballot - a choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative; "there were only 17 and series of apparently identical signatures on the voter lists". A senior OSCE official Gerard Stoudmann says: "I witnessed a crash course in different methods of manipulation". (The Council of Europe could now postpone considering Azerbaijan's entry. Council members would also delay admitting Armenia, whose entry bid is being considered jointly with Azerbaijan's. Leading European states hope that joint accession to the Council of Europe could help bring peace between the two hostile nations, in dispute over the mountain territory of Nagorno Karabakh). Azeri officials play down the reported irregularities. FM Vilayat Guliyev Vilayat Mukhtar ogly Guliyev (born November 5 1952 in Agjabadi, Azerbaijan) is a politician from Azerbaijan. He was elected to the Azeri parliament in 1996 as a supporter of President Heydar Aliyev. says such "mistakes and defects" could happen in any democratic country. He urges the Council of Europe to admit Azerbaijan into the "European family" so that it could continue its "education in democracy". (While observers expected some vote-rigging, they were taken a back by its scale, especially as the election was manipulated in advance by excluding opposition candidates from the vote and controlling and intimidating the media. Parliament has little say in the government, which is dominated by Aliyev, 77, a former KGB KGB: see secret police. KGB Russian Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (“Committee for State Security”) Soviet agency responsible for intelligence, counterintelligence, and internal security. general who rules with authoritarian powers. However, the ruling party's electoral list was headed by Aliyev's 38-year-old son, Ilham Aliyev. A clear parliamentary victory would help bolster Ilham Aliyev's position as his ailing father's potential successor). |
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