"There have never been democratic elections in Azerbaijan. If we are talking about those elections, the People's Front came to power on May 15. The election was on June 7. That is, the election was held within 2-3 weeks. We complain now that the election campaign is held in a very short time, there are no opportunities, etc... There was nothing then. How democratic could it be to conduct an election campaign in a very short period of time?!"
Mehman Aliyev, director of Turan News Agency, said this while speaking on Toplum TV's "Labyrinth" program.
But is it true that the campaign period for the elections held on June 7, 1992, was 2-3 weeks?
Fakt Yoxla checked whether this claim was true.
Ayaz Mutallibov resigned from the presidency of the Republic of Azerbaijan on March 6, 1992. According to Article 121-7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan in force at that time, if the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan is unable to perform his duties for one reason or another, his powers are transferred to the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan until a new President of the Republic of Azerbaijan is elected. In this case, the elections of the new President of the Republic of Azerbaijan should be held within three months. As a result, on March 6, 1992, according to the decisions of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the resignation of Ayaz Mutallibov was accepted, and until the election of the new President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, his authority was transferred to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, Yagub Javad oglu Mammadov.
After that, on March 25, 1992, the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted a decision to hold the presidential elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan on June 7, 1992 (p. 67). In other words, the presidential elections in Azerbaijan were scheduled for 93 days after the resignation of the President in accordance with the law and the Constitution in force at that time.
Article 6 of the Law on Presidential Elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan in force at that time states that the nomination of candidates for the Presidency of the Republic of Azerbaijan begins sixty days before the elections and ends forty-five days before the elections. Article 8 states that the Central Election Commission registers the candidates no later than forty days before the election.
Article 9 states that the candidates for the Presidency of the Republic of Azerbaijan participate in the pre-election campaign on equal grounds from the moment they are registered. That is, with the registration of the candidates, their pre-election campaign period is officially started.
On April 9, 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey was officially nominated for the presidency at the extraordinary session of the APF Supreme Assembly (p. 226). This happened 59 days before the election. After registering his candidacy, Elchibey started the pre-election campaign. For example, on April 24, the presidential candidate Elchibey met with his voters at the Institute of Foreign Languages. On April 27, APF held a rally in Azadlig Square. (p. 227)
On April 27, 1992, Chingiz Ganiyev, a member of the Central Election Commission, said that a total of 7 candidates were registered for the presidential election (p. 227). In other words, the candidates for the presidential elections were announced 42 days before the election. It should be noted that later 2 people withdrew their candidacy.
On May 14, less than a month before the presidential elections, confusion arose in the political situation in the country. Ayaz Mutallibov returned to his post on May 14. So, on the same day, the Supreme Soviet canceled its decision to accept his resignation and returned him to the position of president on May 14. But Mutallibov left Azerbaijan a day later.
At that time, on May 14, with the signature of Yagub Mammadov, the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan, two decisions were signed regarding the invalidation of the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 6, 1992, regarding the resignation of Ayaz Mutallibov and the invalidation of the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 25, 1992, on holding the presidential elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
After that, the deputy commission of the National Council of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan started to investigate the legality of the adoption of the decisions (above) of the session of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan held on May 14, 1992. On May 15, the commission announced its opinion on two decisions made on May 14.
It was noted in the opinion that decisions of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated May 14, 1992, on invalidating the decision of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 6, 1992, on the resignation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and on invalidating the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 25, 1992, on holding the presidential elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan did not have legal force as they contradicted the requirements of Article 121-7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
"In this regard, after the resignation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan was accepted on March 6, 1992, that article came into effect, and the Constitution does not provide for the suspension of this mechanism. Therefore, presidential elections must be held, and the Supreme Soviet has no authority to change this," the commission's opinion emphasized.
Based on the opinion of the deputy commission, the National Council of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan confirmed that the decision of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 6, 1992, on the resignation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the decision of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 25, 1992, on holding the presidential elections of the Republic of Azerbaijan were valid since the decisions made on May 14 contradicted the requirements of Article 121-7 of the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
As a result, the presidential elections were held on June 7, and Abulfaz Elchibey was elected as the president with the most votes among five candidates. The document published by the OSCE (at that time CSCE) also stated that according to most international observers, the elections were held in free, fair, and democratic conditions.
Thus, the presidential election held on June 7, 1992, was not scheduled for 2-3 weeks but for legally 3 months after the resignation of the president, and the exact date of the presidential elections was known in advance. According to the law, the presidential candidates were officially announced 40 days before the election, and according to the law, their pre-election campaign period officially began with the registration of the candidates. According to international observers, the elections were held in democratic conditions.
Fakt Yoxla concludes that Mehman Aliyev's claim is False.
