Read between the lines- Azerbaijan AliyevYAPtions

So elections are over in Azerbaijan. We all knew the results ahead of time. In fact, not sure what was the point of having these elections. Even the voter turnout says enough. According to official results, over 56% of voter turnout. According to opposition, half of that if not less. Some say it was even around 10%. 

But, given this is Azerbaijan, and given voter's opinions never mattered, not since 1993 at least, there is no point in getting into deep and long conversations about the numbers. 

Long story short, the ruling party won (as if thats a surprise), and the "independents" who made it into the parliament, well, thats why I have quotation marks around that word. 

Not surprisingly, so far, none of the candidates of the "Freedom" block made it to the parliament. 

The main election body in Azerbaijan, the Central Election Committe rang the usual bells- all is well, all is good, great elections, transparency and bla bla bla. 

In the meantime, reports of mass violations kept coming in from independent observers with evidence of not only the usual ballot stuffing but also Azerbaijan's all time favorite by now, the carousel voting. Some of its main stars even smiled to the cameras as they walked from one station to another. I guess its the irony. 

And looks like Azerbaijan is headed for more tough times, so my sincere apologies and condolences to whatever civil society community and media thats left in the country. Winter is coming and it ain't our usual HBO series type of winter. Its going to be ugly with lots of ugly people telling us what to do, more arrests, intimidation, and probably even death. 

Yes, that might be the only resemblance with GoT but thats beside the point. 

How I know about this? Well, its easy, just read- between- the- lines of what Ali Hasanov, the chief atrocities perpetrator (although he falls way below the chief chief atrocity perpetrator in Azerbaijan, the he-who-shall-not-be-named but I am going to name him anyway Ramiz The Allmighty Mehdiyev). Where was I? Right the statement of Mr.Mustache Hasanov. 

And here is what I mean. Hasanov said the newly elected MPs (even though many of them were in their seats already) will carry on our parliament tradition. Which basically means if you don't know already, waste time, make useless remarks with sometimes more useless promises, pass more critical bills, limit more freedoms, get paid, get fat, and forget about human values. 

Of course he said more than this, but it doesn't matter because its the same type of nonsensical diatribe. So I won't waste any more of my nor yours time my dear reader on what else he said and how we should read it. Because as I said, it is all the same. Just simply think opposite- if Azerbaijan official utters the word democracy, think authoritarian, if he/she says transparent elections think violations, ballot stuffing and so on and so forth. Its easy, like a game. 

So what's next? Well, nothing really. Another theater play is over. And we are yet to see its side effects and I have a feeling there is going to be many.

Oh and in case you are interested, here are storify stories on yesterday's elections by me and another Azerbaijan watcher Rebecca Vincent.

Azerbaijan's long tradition of carousel voting- we know it very well!

When you are from Azerbaijan and have seen a few elections in your life time, you know very well all the various kinds of violations and fraud that take place on the day of the elections. One of these frauds is carousel voting. While the name might remind you of your childhood memories, the act itself is something in some countries people might get arrested for, because it is at the end of the day, a version of fraud. 

So let me tell you briefly how it happens in case you don't know- a group of men and women get dressed and with their ID cards head to the polling station on the day of the election. They walk in, sign up, and fulfill their duty as a citizen. 

But that day, their duty isn't just voting. Their duty is to vote as many times as possible before they get caught (or unless they get caught). But even then, there is no guarantee that the very same people wont' show up at another precinct all set up for yet another "fraud vote". 

I consider myself lucky, because I have actually seen the "heroes" of this act myself. 

Two years ago, I was an independent observer during the Presidential election in Azerbaijan. I was at my precinct observing two polling stations. There were four other independent observers. I was the only one with a camera which startled the head of the polling station at first. He frantically demanded that I show him my press card which I didn't have to have as an officially registered observer. After nagging and questions which seemed to last a lifetime, I finally pulled out my media accreditation as well. Which shut him up, luckily but only briefly. Each time I took my camera out, he jumped up and down (certainly not of the excitement) and tried his best to divert my attention. Long story short, I received several terrible comments from a few teachers employed by the school calling me all sorts of names because I was "obstructing" their job which consisted of rigging votes. And they had no shame, they were doing it in front of my very own eyes, in public. 

But back to carousel voting and what I saw that day. 

So earlier I saw a woman who came wearing big sun glasses that covered most of her face. She had long hair in a ponytail. She was also dressed nicely. She came alone. I took a picture of her, thinking about why people in Azerbaijan like to wear sunglasses in closed spaces. 

Few hours later, as I stood in my spot watching people come in and register I saw the same woman, this time, with no make up and she of course ditched the sun glasses. This time she was with a kid. 

When I asked the jittery head of the polling station about her, he literally told me not to worry and that she wasn't voting again (even though as he was talking to me she took the ballot and went into the booth) and that she was simply "responsible for making sure people in her neighborhood all cast their votes that day". 

I didn't say much. I smiled. Stepped aside and watched the rest of the circus in silence. It was then when I realized there was no point. No matter how many international or independent observers were there that day, no matter how many questions I asked and comments I made, it was all decided a long time ago and there was nothing I could do. 

So I was not surprised at all, when I saw this video shared my Meydan TV with the head of the Lankaran District Executive Office giving orders to the "electorate" as to whom and how they should vote on November 1.

This is how Aliyev rolls folks. Oh and if you still think there will be different results, just make sure you are not betting that day, YAP will win with a bunch of fake "opposition" and "independent" candidates.

CIS observation mission in Azerbaijan

Vladimir Garkun, is the first deputy chairman of the executive committee of the CIS Secretary. 

These days he is in Baku to "review pre-election situation in Azerbaijan" reports a local newspaper Trend. 

But I can tell you what Mr. Garkun is going to say about the atmosphere already because CIS election observers have a great tradition of praising Azerbaijan's elections every time they swing by "to observe". 

In 2008, the CIS team published a report after its "monitoring" work concluding, "all conditions for the conduct of free, fair and democratic elections have been created in Azerbaijan". But their report should have said instead, all conditions for the conduct of biased, violated, undemocratic elections have been created in Azerbaijan. 

Just wait and see a similar report to come out if not with words such as "achievement", "development" and "democracy in full swing" or something of this sort. 

Sigh... here is to yet another set of undemocratic elections in Azerbaijan. 

How Azerbaijan government is lying about the costs of the games

Back in November, Azadliq Radiosu published an article on the costs of the European games. It referenced an article in a publication called Business New Europe. There, speaking on the costs of the games, the article noted an $8billion estimate in total costs of the upcoming games. This estimate was based on October 2013 projections for state budget actually noted by the authorities themselves. 

Since then, the article is not accessible. However, the issue is still available if you visit the Business New Europe website. 

 

By the way, the "sponsors" of this issue are TEAS (lobby organization with headquarters in London and run by the son of the Ministry of Emergency Situation). Pasha Bank, has links to the ruling government.

What is interesting that the government of Azerbaijan still denies the costs. It says the total costs of the games is EUR960mn [AZ] and that all final costs would be announced once the games are over. The opening alone of the games cost $95million. 

The government of Azerbaijan in the meantime is trying to lower the importance of the costs while emphasizing the image boosting side of the games. But to me looks like Azerbaijani government just spent billions to highlight the crackdown, the human rights issues and everything that is not working in the country.