IFES in Azerbaijan

With over nine years of in-country presence, IFES has promoted democracy and citizen participation in Azerbaijan through targeted election administration assistance and local/community development. IFES’ extensive work in Azerbaijan on issues including election law drafting, poll-worker training, and information dissemination, has allowed it to develop a healthy relationship with both the Presidential Apparat and the Central Election Commission (CEC). Under its current program, IFES Azerbaijan works with both these institutions, as well as other local and international partners, on a range of activities including revisions to the legal framework for elections, technical assistance to election management bodies (EMBs), and increasing public awareness of the electoral process. In addition to election administration assistance, IFES also conducts an annual public opinion survey in Azerbaijan on a host of issues relating to democracy and governance in Azerbaijan.

Election Administration Assistance

The current project is a continuation of IFES Azerbaijan’s long-term election administration assistance program, based on observations of the Parliamentary elections of November 2005 and May 2006. Geared toward the October 2008 Presidential elections, the project endeavors to assist the government of Azerbaijan in fulfilling its international and national election commitments. The objectives of the project are to (i) establish a more effective and impartial legal and regulatory framework for elections and (ii) strengthen electoral management bodies so they may better execute their functions. To address these objectives, activities under the project fall into the general areas of:

Revisions to the Legal Framework

Azerbaijan’s current Election Code is generally regarded as a major improvement over the preceding legal framework for elections. However, experience over several elections since its adoption has exposed several weaknesses, gaps, and ambiguities. IFES Azerbaijan, along with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, is working closely with the Presidential Apparat and the CEC on the process of amending the Election Code.
As part of this process, IFES Azerbaijan has undertaken a thorough review of the English-language version of the code, to clarify ambiguities resulting from weaknesses in translation. Furthermore, IFES Azerbaijan has taken the lead in bringing political parties and civil society into the process, by holding meetings on the issue of CEC composition. Meetings were held in February 2007, which aimed at garnering concrete recommendations to present before the legislative drafters on this issue. After the lengthy process of legal review, recommendations, and drafting of amendments is concluded, IFES Azerbaijan will work on monitoring and facilitating the implementation of revisions to the code.

EMB Capacity Building

IFES Azerbaijan continues technical assistance to the CEC through regular consultations with its leadership and participation in CEC meetings. One of the key issues to be addressed under this area of the project is the CEC’s handling of complaints and appeals. Legislative initiatives are expected in this area, and IFES Azerbaijan will provide assistance to the CEC in building the internal procedures necessary to implement new regulations. Additionally, the project envisions working with Constituency Election Commissions to develop appropriate procedures for addressing complaints and appeals, which will promote fairness and transparency in how they are handled. IFES Azerbaijan will also continue working with the CEC to provide information products for EMBs and voters. As in the past, these information products will be developed and disseminated through the CEC.

Assistance on the National Voter Registry

In May 2007, IFES Azerbaijan undertook an assessment of how the VR is maintained and updated. The assessment focused on the quality of available data on the VR; accessibility of such data to create, update, and improve the VR; the technical processes of updating the VR; and the flow of data between the CEC and the authorities responsible for maintaining the VR. While the assessment report offered several long-term recommendations, it also outlined concrete short-term measures to assure the best possible VR is available in time for the 2008 Presidential Elections.
Based off the findings of the VR assessment, IFES Azerbaijan also carried out informal case studies of information available on the online VR. Findings from the case studies were shared with the CEC through a report, which outlined the general problems and possible solutions. Through work in Azerbaijan, IFES continues to assist the CEC in developing a high quality VR system that meets international standards.

Public Opinion Surveys

Apart from Election Administration Assistance, IFES’ conducts annual Public Opinion Surveys in Azerbaijan. These surveys are aimed at measuring attitudes toward politics, elections, political parties, democracy, justice, local governance, civil society, religion, and the media in Azerbaijan. The national survey is conducted via face-to-face interviews within a national sample representative of the adult population of Azerbaijan. Interviews are conducted in both Azerbaijani and Russian, and are administered through an Azerbaijani survey firm. In the 2006 annual survey, an over-sample of 200 individuals was added to the national sample of 1,400 people. The over-sampling was done at the request of USAID to provide region-specific data in the areas where most USAID programming is executed. IFES’ Public Opinion Surveys in Azerbaijan are part of a broader IFES world-wide program to develop reliable public opinion indicators.