Azerbaijan 2024 early presidential and parliamentary elections: ODIHR observation missions final reports

Azerbaijan’s 2024 early presidential and early parliamentary elections took place in a restrictive environment marred by the absence of genuine political alternatives and a lack of political will to bring the country’s elections closer in line with international standards and OSCE commitments.

These were the first elections to be held throughout the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Longstanding limits on the exercise of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms remain both in law and in practice, and result in a shrinking space for independent media, civil society and political parties. While both votes were efficiently prepared and election day proceeded in an orderly way in both elections, significant procedural irregularities and a deliberate lack of safeguards against manipulation raised serious concerns about whether ballots were counted and reported honestly, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) concluded in its final reports.  

The reports offer recommendations to bring elections in Azerbaijan closer in line with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections.

Key recommendations include:

• Making efforts to enable a genuine pluralistic and competitive political environment that fosters freedom of association
• Bringing legislation on elections and fundamental freedoms in line with international standards through an inclusive consultative process
• Guaranteeing every individual’s enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression by removing restrictions and overly burdensome requirements
• Ensuring the independence and impartiality of election commissions at all levels

• Removing undue restrictions on citizen observers to enhance transparency and accountability
• Safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process, in particular during counting and tabulation to generate public confidence
• Facilitating women’s active participation in public and political life through comprehensive legal, institutional, and educational initiatives.

The ODIHR election observation missions also assessed the country’s efforts to implement previous recommendations through changes in legislation, procedures and practices. For Azerbaijan, the ODIHR missions evaluated the follow-up to recommendations from the 2018 early presidential election and the 2020 early parliamentary elections, and concluded that two recommendations had been mostly implemented, and eight are partially addressed, while others are still outstanding. A full list can be found on p.29 of both reports.

All 57 countries across the OSCE region have formally committed to follow up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations. The ODIHR Electoral Recommendations Database tracks the extent to which recommendations are implemented by states across the OSCE region.