Thank you, Madame Chairperson.

Like the states that have spoken ahead of me, as well as ODIHR and the Council of Europe, we believe that the Azerbaijani elections on November 5 constituted progress over previous elections, but fell short of international standards for democratic elections and significant improvements will have to be achieved in order to meet those standards.

Although there were some significant improvements in Azerbaijan, these were largely nullified by serious failures in implementation, which prevented these elections from being judged genuinely free and fair. We call on the Azerbaijani authorities to follow through on their promises immediately to investigate and correct all violations of election procedures in a thorough and transparent manner. We welcome news that results have already been canceled in one election district where serious violations did take place.

We urge the government of Azerbaijan to work with the international community, the OSCE and ODIHR to move in a more positive and democratic direction and stand ready to work with Azerbaijan to assist in this process.

Thank you.