Bad in Baku

16889_en.pdf (application/pdf objekt)

The election in Azerbaijan turned out to be somewhat worse than expected.

The president's party did score an absolutely overwhelming victory. Of the 125 seats in the parliament, they managed to capture no less than 118.

That's certainly not bad. The love of the people for their rulers seems to be more overwhelming in Baku than almost anywhere else.

There were of course constituencies where they did even better. The presidents wife managed to get 97 % of the vote in her constituency, which in no way can be considered bad.

In that particular constituency, it was noted that the turnout - measured then by the number of ballots found in the balltot box - was nearly twice as high as the national average.

Impressive. Very impressive. Where did all those votes come from?

Well, the OSCE observation delegation was obviously less impressed with the overall counting of the votes. In fact, they delivered a fairly devastating statement. It in no way sanctions the way in which these elections were conducted.

So, what will happen now?

Good question. We are still trying to find a semi-decent semi-good answer.