AZERBAIJAN: Voters will vote this week on whether to give President Ilham Aliyev the chance to rule beyond 2013

Record ID: 218066

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Voters will vote this week on whether to give President Ilham Aliyev the chance to rule beyond 2013
  • Date: 16th March 2009
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF POSTERS ANNOUNCING REFERENDUM ON EXTENDING PRESIDENT'S TERM ON MARCH 18 ENTRANCE TO HEADQUARTERS OF AZERBAIJAN RULING PARTY "YENI (NEW) AZERBAIJAN" PORTRAIT OF AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV FLAGS OF AZERBAIJAN AND AZERBAIJAN RULING PARTY "YENI AZERBAIJAN" (SOUNDBITE) (Azeri) ALI AKHMEDOV, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF RULING PARTY "YENI AZERBAIJAN", SAYING "The ri
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADIVQL0N1WS1LBA9879KE7RBHA
  • Story Text: Oil-producing Azerbaijan votes on Wednesday (March 18) on whether to scrap the country's two-term presidential limit and give Ilham Aliyev the chance to rule beyond 2013.
    The Aliyev family has dominated the tightly-controlled former Soviet republic -- a supplier of oil and gas to the West -- for decades, first under Heydar Aliyev as Communist boss and president, and then his son Ilham since 2003.
    The ruling Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party says the limit is undemocratic, and wants it lifted in the referendum. Aliyev should be allowed to stay president of the Caucasus country as long as he keeps winning elections, the party says.

    "The right to elect power institutions and the president is the fundamental principle of democracy. We think that this right of the people to elect power institutions and the president should not be restricted. We are convinced that restriction of the people's right to elect the best candidate is the restriction of the freedom of choice," said Ali Akhmedov, the executive secretary of Yeni Azerbaijan Party.
    The opposition is calling for a boycott.

    "We are talking about extending presidential term for certain and about strengthening his power. This contradicts democratic principles and existing tendencies of the world's development," Isa Gambar, leader of opposition "Musavat" party told Reuters.
    Analysts say the constitutional amendment will almost certainly pass, after Aliyev claimed 89 percent of the vote in October 2008 in a presidential election foreign monitors deemed less than democratic. The opposition boycotted that vote as well.
    Some analysts say the government is looking to shore up 47-year-old Aliyev's rule against the uncertain impact of the global economic crisis, with deflated oil prices threatening to rein in spending plans key to keeping the people happy.
    The country of 8.7 million people -- mainly Shi'ite Muslims -- lies at a strategic crossroads, sandwiched between Russia and Iran and straddling a region where Moscow and the West are vying for control over energy supplies from Central Asia to Europe.
    Aliyev's Azerbaijan is vital to European hopes of reducing energy dependence on Russia.
    Oil has fuelled rapid rates of economic growth, driving infrastructure projects and transforming the Baku skyline.
    The government says this makes Aliyev genuinely popular. Diplomats don't disagree, but say his power owes as much to strict curbs on democracy and media freedom and the portraits of his father that hang in schools and offices across the country.
    Corruption is rampant, cutting the amount of oil revenue distributed beyond the capital to poorer towns and villages.
    The opposition appears unlikely to call street protests. The referendum has a 25 percent turnout threshold. Authorities said 77 percent voted in last year's presidential election.
    Depressed oil prices will likely force a revision of the budget mid-year, while falling remittances and stalled construction projects suggest the crisis is beginning to bite.
    The authorities continue to invest heavily in the military due to the frozen conflict over rebel Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenian separatists threw off Baku's control in the early 1990s. A peace accord has never been signed.
    But GDP is still forecast to grow 10 percent in 2009, albeit down on an average 21 percent between 2003 and 2007. The country has the cushion of an $11.2 billion "rainy-day" oil fund.
    A senior Western diplomat said the "organs of power" were too effective to allow discontent to spill over. But the government needs to keep spending.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register