Only dictators get 85% Vote
October 09, 2013
Its name sounds impressive: the Independent American Center of Political Monitoring.
So does the umbrella organization it says it is a part of: the International Expert Center for Electoral Systems, or ICES.
Along with official observers from the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other international bodies, members of the group were in Azerbaijan this week to observe the October 9 presidential election.
But ask any Azerbaijan-watcher or journalist outside of pro-government media who they are and nobody seems to know for sure.
Some have never heard of the organization. Others suspect that they’re paid by Baku or government proxies to give a favorable assessment of the election’s conduct. Such an assessment would be a useful counterargument against allegations of massive fraud by the country’s political opposition.
According to its barebones website, the Independent American Center of Political Monitoring is based in the small city of Broken Arrow in the central U.S. state of Oklahoma. It says it is a non-profit founded in 2005 to monitor elections in the former Soviet Union.
Most of its members are listed simply as “experts,” with an accompanying listing of elections they say they’ve monitored, but little additional detail.
The organization describes itself in grammatically incorrect English as “a young and influential organization that has earned the trust and respect of political many scientists and electorate of North America and the rest of the world.”
It also pledges to maintain impartiality and objectivity in offering a “comprehensive” report after elections it monitors. Links to previous election-monitoring reports from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and other former Soviet nations lead to empty pages.
Under the “press release” section are headlines like, “Obama has less leverage than you think,” and “Obama not being a [president] of all Americans.”
The website offers no information about its funding. Calls and emails to the organization inquiring about its source of funds were not returned.
In the hours after polls closed, Azerbaijan’s pro-government APA news agency reported that “the U.S. group of observers” found “free activity” at polling stations.
The article says former U.S. Congressman Solomon Ortiz (Democrat-Texas) represented the delegation of “former congressmen and journalists” in declaring the election “transparent and free.”
More well-known monitors had yet to release their assessments.
On the eve of Wednesday’s poll, the American Center’s umbrella organization, the International Expert Center for Electoral Systems (ICES), held a press conference in the Azerbaijani capital.
There, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service asked Anna Curdova, a former member of the Czech parliament and an ICES election observer, for details on the organization’s funding.
She identified an NGO that she said is based in Ukraine:
RFE/RL: “An ethical question: who is funding your visit and how did you get here?”
Curdova: “I have told you already — we are an NGO that deals with various projects. Our visit is funded out of the income we generate from other activities we engage in at times when no elections take place.”
RFE/RL: “But who, in particular, or what organization [pays you]?”
Curdova: “I’ve already told you — we are called ‘For Just Elections.'”
RFE/RL: “Meaning that you are funding your own visit here?”
Curdova: “Yes, yes. Well, not myself personally, but my organization is. ‘For Just Elections’ –that’s what it’s called.”
Election-observer Michael Hohendahl, a lawyer from Germany, also told RFE/RL that his work was funded by the NGO.
Hohendahl was previously quoted by Interfax-Ukraine as praising the conduct of Ukraine’s 2012 parliamentary elections, a contest that Western observers described as highly flawed.
Both Curdova and Hohendahl expressed surprise when RFE/RL mentioned alleged rights abuses under the government of President Ilham Aliyev.
The ICES website says the organization is registered in the Netherlands. It also says the organization is a signatory to the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, which requires the disclosure of funding sources. The website does not, however, mention the “For Just Elections” NGO or any funding information.
Those claiming that the shadowy observer groups may be funded by Azerbaijani government interests also point to a U.S. company whose affiliation is more transparent.
Arthur J. Finkelstein & Associates, led by the longtime Republican strategist of the same name, has released the results of an exit poll it conducted after Wednesday’s vote.
The results show incumbent President Ilham Aliyev with nearly 83 percent of the vote and opposition candidate Camil Hasanli with just under 9 percent.
The pro-government APA news agency published the result — and said it had also ordered the exit poll.