[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 147 (Monday, October 20, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12887-S12888]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ELECTIONS IN AZERBAIJAN

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, on October 15, citizens of Azerbaijan went 
to the polls to elect their next president. The months and days leading 
up to the election were characterized by extremely biased media 
attention for the pro-presidential Yeni Azerbaijan Party, YAP, and 
government-sponsored intimidation and harassment of the opposition 
parties. The U.S. Government and the OSCE expressed serious concern 
about the preelection environment to the highest levels of Azerbaijan's 
Government. Our advice went largely unheeded, and grave levels of 
government interference and intimidation continued through election 
day.
  I traveled to Azerbaijan just before the election to meet with 
Azerbaijani political leaders to discuss these concerns. I told then-
Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev in the clearest possible terms that the 
international community was carefully watching his actions and expected 
a democratic outcome. I also met with a range of opposition leaders and 
assured them that we shared their concerns and were working to 
encourage the government to hold elections consistent with 
internationally recognized standards.
  On election day, the OSCE and U.S. government brought in over 600 
international election observers and deployed them nationwide. Although 
a number of areas were peaceful and orderly, observers noted many 
violations of the new Unified Election Code, UEC. Violations included 
ballot stuffing, multiple voting, harassment at the polling station by 
authorities, incomplete voter lists, and a lack of regard for the 
procedural process of ballot tabulation.
  The undemocratic and blatant disregard for the UEC in both the 
preelection period and on election day led to civil unrest in Baku as 
the final ballot counts were being made public. The night of the 
election and the following days showed citizens coming together in 
protest in large numbers in response to the election's failure to meet 
international standards. Reports continue to come in of severe and 
sometimes fatal violence against journalists and political activists. 
Not only has the government has not met its obligation to uphold law 
and order, but the government's security forces are largely responsible 
for the violence.
  This presidential election was a chance for Azerbaijan to demonstrate 
its commitment to the democratic process. Despite the new election 
code, the ruling party chose to retain power at all costs and to ensure 
that its candidate received nothing short of an overwhelming victory. 
The United States will have to review its interest in deepening 
strategic relations with an Azerbaijani regime that does not enjoy the 
full legitimacy a free and fair election confers. We should step up 
American assistance to the democratic opposition in Azerbaijan and 
continue to work to deepen civil society as a bulwark against the 
state. The government in Baku must know that the United States values 
our relations with

[[Page S12888]]

the people of Azerbaijan but cannot turn a blind eye to an election 
that demonstrated such shortcomings, including state-directed violence 
against political opponents. Improved U.S.-Azerbaijan relations require 
a new commitment to political pluralism, and a rejection of political 
violence, on the part of a government that has failed this important 
test of democratic legitimacy.

                          ____________________