2
SAMADBAYLI AND OTHERS v. AZERBAIJAN JUDGMENT
THE FACTS
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE
4. The applicants’ years of birth and places of residence are listed in the
Appendix.
A. Domestic proceedings concerning the applicants’ election-related
complaints
5. The circumstances of the case are similar to those in Gahramanli
and Others v. Azerbaijan (no. 36503/11, §§ 6-32, 8 October 2015).
6. The applicants were independent self-nominated or opposition
candidates in the parliamentary elections of 7 November 2010 (see
Appendix). All the applicants lost the elections in their respective
constituencies.
7. After election day, the applicants lodged complaints with the Central
Electoral Commission (“the CEC”) concerning a number of irregularities in
their respective constituencies that had allegedly taken place during and/or
before election day. Some of them also lodged identical complaints with the
respective Constituency Electoral Commissions (“the ConECs”). They
complained about various types of irregularities, including interference by
public officials, illegal campaigning, obstruction and intimidation of
election observers, ballot-box stuffing, repeated voting by the same
individuals, irregularities in applying election ink, incorrect vote-counting
procedures, inconsistencies in precinct election results records indicating a
falsely inflated voter turnout, and so on. In support of their allegations, the
applicants submitted various types of evidence documenting specific
instances of the irregularities complained of, including statements made by
election observers, video recordings and photographs.
8. The applicants who lodged a complaint with the respective ConECs
did not receive any reply from them (except in applications nos. 36821/11,
37656/11, 37740/11, 41066/11 and 42360/11). All of the applicants’
complaints were examined by the CEC which, on various dates (see
Appendix), issued decisions rejecting the applicants’ claims, providing
reasoning similar to that in the CEC decision in Gahramanli and Others
(cited above, §§ 21-26).
9. The applicants lodged further complaints with the Baku Court of
Appeal and the Supreme Court which, on various dates (see Appendix),
dismissed the applicants’ appeals, providing reasoning similar to that in
their respective decisions in Gahramanli and Others (cited above,
§§ 27-32).
10. In the meantime, however ‒ and before the Supreme Court delivered
its final decision concerning each complaint (except in application