NPD on democratic mission in Baku
Udo Voigt, MEP, as an election observer in Azerbaijan
It was a first in Azerbaijan: there, the German NPD MEP Udo Voigt was member of an international election observation mission, on the occasion of the presidential election. There he could inform himself about the way democratic standards were respected in the election.
The 22-members strong delegation included delegates from Belgium, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and the Czech Republic. As part of his mission in the capital Baku, Udo Voigt had numerous opportunities to talk with voters, local electoral commission staff and representatives of the numerous opposition parties present in the polling stations. There were no obstacles or restrictions of democratic rights. The vote took place, as Voigt concluded, „in accordance with international standards, so in an equal, free and secret manner“.
According to the long-time former leader of the NPD, the electoral standards in Azerbaijan even exceeded those in Germany: unlike in the Federal Republic, the ballot boxes in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan are transparent, and there are mobile ballot boxes in each polling station, that are brought to the home of voters if necessary. Also, in the run-up to the election, all candidates of the opposition are present in talk shows in the state media – something that can only be dreamed of in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Udo Voigt’s conclusion:
„Self-proclaimed ´Democrats´ have no reason to boast in Germany – constitutional standards are observed in Baku at least as meticulous as in Berlin. If Azerbaijani President Aliyev can look forward to election results beyond 80 percent every few years, it is not because of election manipulation or suppression of the opposition, but because of his successful and voter-honoured policies. The undemocratic German Merkel-regime, that is manipulating elections through state media propaganda, school indoctrination, intimidation and showtrials against patriots, illegal bans of party congresses of the opposition, attempts to ban opposition parties as NPD, and now even an attempt to install an European election tresshold of 3 % that has been condemned as unconstitutional by the German Court, can learn a big lesson from that. „
Udo Voigt
Strasbourg, 16.04.2018
