The European Parliament will not observe the presidential election to be held in Azerbaijan on April 11, 2018, reads a statement made by the co-chairs of the EP’s Democracy support and election coordination group MEPs McAllister and McAvan.

The statement says the European Parliament will not observe this electoral process and consequently will neither comment on the process nor on the results that will be announced afterwards.

“No individual member of the European Parliament has been mandated to observe or comment on this electoral process on its behalf. Therefore, should any member of the European Parliament decide to observe these elections, she/he would do so on her/his own initiative and should under no circumstances commit the European Parliament through any statement or action,” MEPs McAllister and McAvan said in their statement.

“The European Parliament will adopt its report on the relations between the EU and Azerbaijan during its plenary sitting before the summer recess. Only this report will represent the official position of the European Parliament on the matter,” reads the statement.