AZERBAIJAN: Ruling party wins election but opposition leaders reject result

Record ID: 218465

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Ruling party wins election but opposition leaders reject result
  • Date: 7th November 2005
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) 60-YEAR-OLD RELA, BAKU RESIDENT, SAYING: "I think in general people should vote for young people. They are still honest, have good ideas and not just there for themselves. They believe in a decent future for the country. We should have voted for them."
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAALRH9Q59Z8IBITAR47PWUDH27
  • Story Text: Azerbaijan's parliamentary poll fell short of democratic standards, Western election monitors said on Monday (November 7, 2005), boosting opposition calls for it to be overturned as fraudulent.
    The opposition quickly announced plans for street protests after Sunday's (November 6) vote in the ex-Soviet country handed victory to the ruling party backing President Ilham Aliyev, though analysts ruled out any Ukraine-style revolution. But the sharp words from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were sure to disappoint Western governments which had hoped the vote would lay the foundation for stable, democratic rule in the oil-producing Caspian state.
    Three busloads of police in full riot gear were stationed on the capital's Freedom Square as OSCE observers handed out their verdict.
    "Yesterday's elections did not meet a number of OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards for democratic elections," said Alcee L. Hastings, head of the OSCE's observer mission.
    "It pains me to report that progress noted in the pre-election period was undermined by significant deficiencies in the count," Hastings told a news briefing. His words were softened by an OSCE statement that pointed out some improvements in the way the vote had been conducted.
    With almost all votes counted, the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party and an array of mostly pro-government independents and minor parties had a huge majority in the 125-seat parliament.
    The main opposition Azadlyq bloc had won only five seats.
    Aliyev leads a country of 8 million Muslims wedged between Russia and Iran. Corruption is endemic and the country has yet to hold an election judged free and fair by the West. But Aliyev had shown signs of moving towards gradual reform.
    An Azadlyq leader said Western criticism would help the bloc's cause. The OSCE criticism would strengthen the Azeri opposition Ali Kerimli said.
    "We can see that elections were massively rigged and that is why we demand to cancel the result and this idea is shared by everybody who was deprived of the right to vote," he told a news conference.
    Isa Gambar, leader of opposition party Musavat, and part of the opposition bloc Azadlyq told the news conference the first in a promised series of peaceful protest rallies would be held in Baku on Wednesday (November 9), after authorities overruled opposition plans to hold the protest on Tuesday.
    Analysts however said the defeated opposition was too weak to repeat Ukraine's "Orange Revolution", though many Aliyev opponents wore orange in imitation of the peaceful uprising that ousted the Ukrainian ruling elite in December 2004.
    Helped by windfall revenues from its oil exports, the Baku government pays wages and pensions on time and the economy is growing, cushioning Aliyev's administration against discontent.
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