AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev votes in parliamentary elections closely watched by the West.

Record ID: 218402

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev votes in parliamentary elections closely watched by the West.
  • Date: 6th November 2005
  • Summary: OSCE OBSERVERS WATCHING
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVABYP443YK77L1CVPNHLX2TJN5N
  • Story Text: Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev cast his vote on Sunday (November 6, 2005) in the country's parliamentary elections. Sunday's polls are expected to hand the ruling party a big majority, with Western governments hungry for the country's oil, hoping vote fraud and violence do not wreck the ballot. The 5,000 polling stations opened at 0800 (0400 GMT) across the Muslim state of 8 million people wedged between Russian and Iran. Polls close at 1900 with first results expected early on Monday (November 7). President Aliyev -- who succeeded his father as head of state -- runs a country where corruption is endemic and which has yet to hold an election judged free and fair by international observers. Aliyev announced a last-minute package of anti-fraud measures, including putting indelible ink on voter's fingers to stop them voting twice. Western officials said that gave them some optimism the vote would be cleaner than in the past. After voting, Aliyev expressed optimism about the outcome of the election and the future of Azerbaijan. "These elections are very important for the future development of Azerbaijan. As you know Azerbaijan is a presidential republic but nevertheless elections to the parliament, I think, will create better conditions for the future democratic development of the country. The whole election process was positive, during all the stages electoral law was completely implemented. Equal conditions were provided for all the candidates, and in general, election process was smooth and peaceful. And I hope the election date also, will also, be successful and after these elections Azerbaijan will continue to develop in various directions; develop strong economy, political processes will grow more rapidly here, the process of democratisation will continue and the country will become stronger after these elections," President Aliyev told reporters. Opposition parties promised rallies for next week to protest what they predicted would be widespread election fraud, though analysts say that a repeat of the popular revolts that followed disputed polls in fellow ex-Soviet states Ukraine and Georgia were unlikely. On Sunday, one Azeri opposition leader said he and his supporters were prepared to stage street protests if widespread fraud is reported during the elections. Ali Kerimli, leader of the National Front Party, part of the united opposition Azadlyq bloc, spoke to reporters after voting in Baku. "We have plans in place that if there will be widespread fraud, we will for sure call on the people of Azerbaijan to protest against falsified results. And from November 8 we will start our protests. These protests will be peaceful; we want to have legal action, and will do our best not to hand the authorities an excuse to use violence against us," Kerimli told reporters. But the threat of violence hung over the election, with the powerful interior minister saying the opposition might try to provoke the police and warning any illegal protests would be stamped out. Azerbaijan is in a South Caucasus region criss-crossed with smouldering separatist conflicts. Western governments are anxious for stability, especially with an oil pipeline expected to begin delivering crude to world markets from next year.
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