AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijan's ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan Party set for victory in the parliamentary elections, meanwhile opposition launch accusations of widespread fraud and plan protest

Record ID: 218457

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijan's ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan Party set for victory in the parliamentary elections, meanwhile opposition launch accusations of widespread fraud and plan protest
  • Date: 7th November 2005
  • Summary: (W4) BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (NOVEMBER 6, 2006) (REUTERS) OFFICIAL TAKING SEALS OFF BALLOT BOX OFFICIAL TAKING COVER OF BOX AND EMPTYING BOX ON TABLE HOLDING BALLOTS WOMEN SORTING BALLOTS OBSERVERS WATCHING START OF BALLOT COUNT BALLOT PAPERS BALLOT BEING SORTED
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACDS94BGXAU8RGFKQ3RQ7POME6
  • Story Text: Azerbaijan's ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party has won nearly half the seats in parliament according to partial poll results, the country's election chief said on Monday (November 7).
    Central Election Commission Chairman Mazahir Panahov said the party had won 58 seats in the 125-seat parliament in Sunday's vote, while the biggest opposition bloc, Azadlyq, so far had only five votes. Independent candidates had taken 33 seats, Panahov told a news briefing. Panahov said the seats had been awarded on the basis of ballots received from 28 percent of the country's 5,000 polling stations. "In general, the elections were held in a democratic atmosphere. I mean that our voters had a chance to go to their polling stations in every district and vote for their preferred candidate. This was the general atmosphere," said Mazakhir Panahov, Head Of the Central Election Commission.
    The head of Azerbaijan's ruling party had earlier declared victory, but was immediately accused of widespread fraud by the opposition which said it would hit the streets in protest. "There was a total falsification of the elections, which we unfortunately predicted. Tonight and tomorrow we will consider all the information, we will decide on our tactics and slogans. And as you know on the 8th of November at three o'clock we will begin our first rally and most probably we will demand to annul the results of these falsified elections," said Isa Gambar, one of three leaders of the opposition Azadliq bloc, told a news briefing in Baku. But Ali Akhmeov, Executive Secretary Of Azerbaijan's ruling 'New Azerbaijan Party', said the statements were nothing but an acknowledgement of defeat. "Opposition parties, some leaders of the opposition parties, even prior to the announcement of the official result of the vote, announced that the elections were rigged, and based on their own statement they have decided to hold protests from November the eight," he said. Election day in the oil-rich ex-Soviet country went by with no reports of disturbances, but violence remained a threat, with the Azeri interior minister saying radical elements in the opposition might try to provoke police and warning any illegal protests would be stamped out.
    Western states hungry for the country's oil are hoping vote fraud and violence do not wreck the poll. For the first time, election officials in the 5,000 polling stations were spraying indelible ink on voters' thumbs to stop them voting twice. It was part of a package of anti-fraud measures adopted days before the vote. Azerbaijan's parliament is elected through first-past-the-post votes in constituencies, not a proportional system. A candidate can be declared winner in his constituency before all polling stations have been included in the count.
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