§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Azeri Government since the election of 817W Ilham Aliev as President regarding(a) the conduct of the recent elections in Azerbaijan and (b) arrests of opposition supporters. [136433]
§ Mr. MacShaneThe EU issued a statement on 23 October expressing regret for the shortcomings in the electoral process in Azerbaijan, while acknowledging that it was an improvement over previous elections. In the two weeks following the elections, our ambassador to Azerbaijan met twice with President-elect Ilham Aliev, and on both occasions he raised the issue of the post election arrests of opposition party officials and journalists. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Rammell) expressed our concern about the post-electoral developments in a press release of 23 October. A copy of the press release is available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: www.fco.gov.uk/policy/news/press-releases. Many of those detained have since been released. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and keep in close touch with our EU and OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) partners.
§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of whether the recent elections in Azerbaijan can be deemed to have been free and fair; and if he will make a statement. [136445]
§ Mr. MacShaneWe acknowledge progress over previous elections in Azerbaijan, but regret that some shortcomings were observed. The International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) stated in its preliminary conclusions that voting was generally well administered in most polling stations, but that the overall election process still fell short of international standards in several respects. It is important that Azerbaijan takes steps to build on the progress it has made and to reaffirm its commitments in the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and obligations within the Council of Europe to the democratic process. We await the IEOM's final assessment on the conduct of the elections.