Azerbaijan vote didn’t meet int'l norms

"Elections in Azerbaijan did not meet international standards despite some improvements," the international observers said in a statement.

Specifically, "The 6 November parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan did not meet a number of OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards for democratic elections."

Authorities in this oil-rich former Soviet republic have defended the standards of the elections but the opposition has alleged widespread vote fraud.

According to the latest official results based on almost 96 percent of ballots counted, the ruling Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party won an outright majority, with control of 63 seats in the 125-seat national assembly.

Parties in the main opposition alliance Azadliq became the second biggest force, but with just six seats between them, according to the preliminary count. The other seats went to independent candidates and small parties.

Alcee Hastings, member of the OSCE parliamentary assembly, told journalists in Baku that some improvements in Azerbaijan's election preparations were marred by fraud once the polls closed.

"It pains me and my colleagues to report that progress noted was severely undermined in the counting. While voting was generally calm, the process deteriorated during tabulation," Hastings said.

"The road leading to these elections was paved with good intentions and bad practices."

Meanwhile, a US-funded exit poll contested the official results of parliamentary elections in former Soviet Azerbaijan in which elections officials yesterday gave the ruling party a crushing victory.

A tabulation of 46 out of 65 constituencies sampled in a 1.5 million-dollar USAID-funded poll, showed that there were at least nine districts in which the exit polls and official results differed.

The exit poll covered just over half of oil-rich Azerbaijan's 125 constituencies and results for a remaining 19 districts were still being compiled mid-Monday.

Seven representatives of Azerbaijan's opposition coalition, Azadliq, were among those the exit poll gave a winning score, but who lost in their areas according to preliminary official results.

And six of the official winners in the contested districts represent President Ilham Aliyev's ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party.

With 50 percent of ballots from Sunday's vote counted, the Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party won 64 seats, or just over half of the parliament, the Central Elections Commission (CEC) said.

Authorities in this oil-rich former Soviet republic have defended the standards of the elections but the opposition has alleged widespread vote fraud.

Meanwhile the ruling party and the CEC have hinted they would not accept the findings of the exit poll, which US contractor PA Consulting carried out for USAID, a government-funded aid agency.

"There were irregularities in the activity of PA Consulting," CEC chairman Mazakhir Panakhov said, echoing a Sunday statement in which YAP accused the firm of hiring opposition activists to conduct its surveys.

A second exit poll, released by the private Mitofsky International and Edison Media Research companies, which have not disclosed their funding source, said data showed Yeni Azerbaijan won 56 seats and Azadliq took 13.

An official observer report from Europe's top election monitoring bodies, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe, was expected later on Monday at 1200 GMT.