Title: Monitors Question Integrity of Presidential Elections in Azerbaijan

Election monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) indicated today, Thursday, that there are "serious questions" regarding the integrity of the vote counting and registration process in the presidential elections that took place in Azerbaijan on Wednesday. The OSCE monitoring mission stated in a report that "the elections were characterized by a lack of genuine political alternatives in a constrained environment," and there were "indications of ballot stuffing with (forged) ballots." President Ilham Aliyev was reelected yesterday with over 90 percent of the votes. Human rights groups have previously described elections in Azerbaijan as "neither free nor fair." There was no immediate comment from Azerbaijan on the OSCE statement.