Baku – Ashraf AboArafe
More than one million Azerbaijanis became internally displaced persons as a result of occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and ethnic cleansing policy carried out by Armenia.
The Armenian community of the Nagorno Karabakh region, who are citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan have been deprived of their electoral rights, along with other constitutional rights due to the occupation by Armenia.
Armenia has attempted many times to create artificial election “shows” in those areas. As holding elections in the territories of Azerbaijan is based on the Constitution and the Election Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, these so-called “elections” are illegitimate and not recognized by the international community.
As a result of military agression, out of 125 election constituencies 7 were occupied fully and 3 partly. Meanwhile, there are also polling stations for IDPs in other 4 election constituencies.
In order to ensure the constitutional rights of IDPs forcibly expelled from their homelands , 523 polling stations were established and prepared for the election day.
Although the dispersion of the internally displaced citizens to all the regions of the country complicates the organisation of voting, all necessary conditions have been created for those people to exercise their voting rights.
Emphasizing that the election rights of the Azerbaijan citizens expelled from their native lands as a result of Armenian agression have been guarantied in all previous elections and referenda in the country and no discrimination based on ethnic affiliation was made in that respect, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan states that, like all other citizens, Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan can exercise their voting rights freely in these elections and to this end, it stands ready to take all measures in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
