The Central Election Commission (CEC) held a session chaired by Mr. Mazahir Panahov on September 16, 2024. During the session an issue on the compilation of the CEC protocol on general election results in the early Elections to the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, verification and submission of the electoral results to the Constitutional Court was considered. The issues discussed and decisions adopted with the direct participation of local and international media outlets, as well as, other interested subjects were effectively broadcasted by the media.

Firstly, large-scale projects and purposeful steps were spoken about which had been implemented for top-level preparation and conduct of the elections at the Commission’s session. It was informed that the Elections to the Milli Majlis had been conducted in all sovereign territories of Azerbaijan and turned out an important historical event in the public and political life of the country. Since the day of official start of the elections, CEC and relevant organizations with the duties and competencies defined by the legislation had been implementing the scheduled activities basing on the Calendar Plan compiled and approved by the Commission in a subsequent, systematic and efficient way upon abiding by the requirements of the Election Code.

It was also emphasized on the successful implementation of updating voters’ lists within the timeframe as defined in the legislation which is one of the important priority issues in elections, using opportunities of media outlets and social media platforms in this field and inclusive functioning via different means. It was informed on large campaign on social media platforms, meanwhile, various materials prepared by CEC in regard with checking names in voters’ lists – information posters of large size disseminated within the whole country and different video and audio reels aired on TV and radio channels. Prospective and effective media targeted at ensuring citizens’ voting rights more efficiently which had been founded for the first time during the 2024 Presidential elections in the Republic of Azerbaijan was also carried on in Elections to the Milli Majlis. Thus, a functional sector located on smart monitors at “ASAN service” centers were activated and allowed thousands of citizens who had applied to the Centers to check their entries in voters’ lists, to define the constituency and precinct where they belonged to, also to address to CEC immediately if there was need regarding those issues. A video reel prepared within close cooperation of CEC with “ASAN service” and calling citizens to benefit the foregoing innovative means at the Centers and to check their names in the lists, to define the polling station where to vote was also broadcasted on TV and radio channels and social media platforms.

It was informed on large-scale educational and informational program carried out in the Elections to the Milli Majlis that through the whole election competition awareness-raising of all election stakeholders including electorate and lower election commission members had been always focused on and many projects on different fields had been implemented intensively with the direct participation of observers and media representatives until the short period up to the voting day within close cooperation with the relevant organizations. CEC also printed hundreds of posters on the election history, voting rules, as well as, directing and calling to elections, those posters were displayed in visible areas within the all residences. Along with these, 6 video and audio reels on the voting basing on checking entries in the voters’ lists, inviting voters to the voting, reminding of the Election Day, voting procedures had been regularly aired on TV and radio channels, also posted on social media platforms.

During the session the projects and opportunities implemented for the vulnerable groups - the visually impaired persons, those with hearing and mobility disabilities were also informed about. It was emphasized that the visually impaired voters exercised their constitutional rights on the voting day independently upon using stencils in Braille alphabet containing the information in the ballot paper. All the video reels prepared within the voter educational program of CEC were also presented in subtitles for informing the voters with hearing disability. For the voters with mobility impairment not be isolated from the society and to come to the polling station to vote, 2471 polling stations were brought to suitable state by locating the polling stations inside of relevant buildings and installing new mobile ramps where needed.

Meanwhile, it was informed that 990 contenders competed for deputy freely who represented many political parties and had been nominated on their own initiatives and by voters’ initiative groups. One of the most worthy sides of the elections was the interest of political parties to these elections on the level that has never been noticed so far and the participation of 25 political parties with their candidates, functioning in the country in the elections. All the candidates were provided with broad opportunities and inclusive equal conditions during pre-election campaign. Pursuant to the election legislation, 3469 outdoor and 2037 indoor venues were delivered to the disposal of the campaign subjects within the whole country. They were entitled to hold pre-election meetings with their voters without any obstacle upon using those venues after only having informed the Constituency Election Commissions (Con.ECs). Furthermore, more than 10 thousand of large-size campaign posters were installed (being 2 posters for each polling station) in the areas of easily seen by voters within the territory of each election precinct. The media outlets demonstrated high activity in joining pre-election campaign on the payable basis. To this end, all of the applications submitted to CEC by 58 media outlets were implemented, their suggestions and information were posted on the Commission’s official website for the campaign subjects to be familiar with and the equality principle for all candidates had always been focused on. It was also emphasized at the session that pre-election campaign that was one of the most important stages of the elections was held within civilized atmosphere of modern standards, therewith, the candidates could benefit equal conditions and opportunities provided by CEC.

One of the issues, especially mentioned at the Commission’s session concerned the conduct of the elections within the atmosphere of wide transparency and openness. It was stated that during the Elections to the Milli Majlis generally, more than 121 thousand of election stakeholders including local and international observers, commission members with consultative rights, authorized representatives, agents and other subjects with different status were entitled to observe the activity of Precinct Election Commissions (PECs). 598 international observers representing 51 foreign organizations and 69 countries, as well as, the representatives of the competent international media outlets joined the election observation. Local media outlets participated in the observation of the processes freely without any obstacle from the beginning till the end of the election competition without the requirement of any additional registration and document. Considering the possible mistakes, the results of the “exit-poll” held by 3 specialized organizations, 2 of which were functioning jointly with foreign partners, almost overlapped with the official results of CEC.

Much interest of political parties and non-governmental organizations to the observation of elections was specially, considerable. It was informed that 24 political parties with nearly, 65 thousand representatives participated in the election observation.  Meanwhile, 16 non-governmental organizations and civil society agencies with more than 5000 local observers participated in the monitoring of elections, thereby demonstrating high activity of the foregoing organizations in elections.

The implementation of all necessary activities to conduct the elections in free and fair atmosphere was also underlined that the effective usage of the latest innovative advancements of information and communication technologies in elections and the application of the webcam practice tested successfully for long years further enlarged the scope of transparency. Webcams with high-quality image effect installed in 1000 polling stations allowed the internet users to observe the processes on the voting day  since the polling stations started to function in an open platform to everybody, incessantly and in real time without requirement of registration from any part of the world. The webcams had more than 570 thousand of views from different countries and areas worldwide, which is another indicator of effectiveness of webcams in the election process and large interest to the publicity.

It was also noted at the session that the Elections to the Milli Majlis were conducted in 6478 polling stations on 125 election constituencies. The number of permanent polling stations in the areas liberated from occupation was increased to 34 in these elections and therewith, 20 polling stations functioning on temporary bases were established. Voters realized their constitutional rights freely and independently and 37,24 % of voters on the country participated in the voting on the voting day. The publicity was informed on the voter turnout 5 times throughout the E-Day. After closing polling stations, the vote counting had been incessantly implemented and while finalizing the determination of the results on the election precincts, the protocol data of PECs was immediately publicized upon entering the CEC website in timely manner. The preliminary information and leader candidates were announced basing on the information received from 91 % of the precincts within several hours after ending the voting. The voting results protocols and other election documents were delivered to Con.ECs from PECs and from the Con.ECs to CEC within the timeframe defined by law.

It was also stated at the session that neither CEC nor lower election commissions had received any complaint or appeals concerning law violations on the voting day and the proceeding day. On the E-Day the information requests about the addresses of polling stations, voters’ lists and other similar inquiries entered the hotline #115 and electronic hotlines were immediately replied and necessary measures were undertaken. The appeals and the information obtained through different sources since the voting day up  to finalizing the elections were put into the session agenda within the timeframe and manner defined in the legislation upon transparent, fair and inclusive investigation and following the discussion open to the publicity, relevant decisions were adopted. The information on the investigation of the appeals and the proceeding of the examination has been posted on the Commission’s website.

Benefiting the opportunities of online platform in informing publicity regarding the Elections to the Milli Majlis and especially, important role of the CEC website in that process were also underlined at the session. It was stated that the Commission’s website with necessary information updated regularly had been delivered to the users’ disposal through the election process and the wishing persons could get various information through the webpage easily.  The CEC website had nearly 3 million views from the day of starting the elections officially till ending the elections. Only on E-Day this number reached to 570 thousand. The official accounts of the Commission on social media platforms kept their activity during the election competition and the information had been regularly posted on those webpages, too.

After the participants had been informed on the preparation and conduct of the Elections to the Milli Majlis, the issues included in the agenda were discussed at the CEC session. It was informed that the Con.EC protocols and necessary election documents attached to them submitted to CEC within the timeframe and manner defined in the legislation were investigated as in compliance with the Election Code. As a result of investigating the documents, the Commission considered the voting results invalid on the following polling stations of the Con.ECs – PEC # 12 of Khazar second Con.EC # 13, PEC # 26 of Yasamal first Con.EC # 15, PEC # 15 of Narimanov-Nizami-Binagadi Con.EC # 18, PEC # 1 of Surakhani second Con.EC # 31, PEC # 13 of Ganja first Con.EC # 38, PEC # 38 of Ganja-Samukh-Goranboy Con.EC # 41, PECs # 4, 5 and 9 of Absheron first Con.EC # 48, PECs # 2 and 8 of Yevlakh Con.EC # 52, PEC # 88 of Lerik-Astara Con.EC # 80, PECs # 41, 42, 44 and 45 of Imishli-Saatli Con.EC # 82, PECs # 20, 25 and 34 of Gadabay Con.EC # 104, as well as, PEC # 21 of Aghdam Con.EC # 119. Therewith, generally 35 PECs were dismissed which had committed irregularities in their activity during the preparation, conduct of elections and determination of the voting results.

The examination of the Con.EC voting results protocols and other election documents attached to them was considered finalized, the CEC protocol on general election returns was compiled and approved by being signed by all the Commission members. Therewith, it was decided to submit the Commission protocol together with the relevant documents to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan for verification as in compliance with the requirements of the election legislation.