Home > 1. The principles of Europe's electoral heritage > AZERBAIJAN - Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on amendments and changes to the Electoral Code adopted by the Council for Democratic Elections and the Venice Commission
 
 
 
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Paragraph 23
 

An amendment to Article 35.5 attempts to address the recommendations in the OSCE/ODIHR Final Report on the 6 November 2005 Parliamentary Elections concerning abuses that took place in the establishment of polling stations for military voters and the appointment of polling staff for military voters.[6] The recommendations raised concern that Article 35.5 was not being applied on an exceptional basis, as it should be, and that it was becoming the general rule instead of the exception. The recommendations were also based on the observation that Article 35.5 (Establishment of Election (Referendum) Precincts) appeared to be applied arbitrarily without application of any consistent and objective criteria. Further, Article 35.5 allows for the creation of special military polling stations where the military authority of Azerbaijan designates a “special regime” for one or more members of the military. As “special regimes” are military secrets, very little is known about them. However, the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission was able to ascertain that in the 2005 Parliamentary Elections more than 71,000 voters voted in polling stations dedicated to military voting.[7]