http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/08/AR2010110800819.html
Official: Azeri ruling party set to win vote
Isa Gambarov, chairman of Azerbaijan's opposition party Musavat, casts his vote in Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections in central Baku, Azerbaijan, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010. Azerbaijani citizens are going to the polls to elect the 125 members of parliament. (AP Photo/Manoocher Deghati) (Manoocher Deghati - AP)
By AIDA SULTANOVA
The Associated Press
Monday, November 8, 2010; 4:35 AM
BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Azerbaijan's ruling party looks set to win parliamentary elections in the energy-rich nation, its top election official indicated Monday, a result that would maintain President Ilham Aliyev's firm hold over the country.
With more than 90 percent of votes preliminarily counted, Sunday's vote in this former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea appears to have given an expected victory to Aliyev, who has ruled Azerbaijan since 2003.
The country's Central Elections Commission head, Mazahir Panahov, said in a televised news conference early Monday that about 70 seats in the 125-seat legislature went to representatives of Aliyev's Yeni Azerbaijan party.
Opponents of Aliyev have already cried foul, saying they were denied a fair shot in the vote. Aliyev is often criticized by rights groups for heavy-handed treatment of independent media and opposition groups.
The opposition bloc Musavat had been expected to compete, but its leader Isa Qambar told The Associated Press that none of its candidates had won seats.
Musavat and other opposition parties complained Sunday that their observers were blocked from some polling stations and also reported cases of multiple voting.
"We demand the results be annulled and new elections be conducted on the basis of a revised election legislation," Qambar said. He called the vote "illegitimate, undemocratic, untransparent, and not free."
Qambar had earlier said the group's chances were high, but that the results would depend on the will of the presidential administration rather than popular opinion.
Just over 50 percent of the 4.95 million eligible voters took part in Sunday's election.
Qambar earlier said the opposition would consider calling a protest rally for Tuesday, but few expect a repeat of the mass protests that followed the last parliamentary elections five years ago and what appeared to be widespread fraud.
Recent opposition rallies have drawn only a few dozen activists, and the election campaign was far quieter than those of past years.
This has been attributed in part to rising living standards in Azerbaijan, a major exporter of oil and gas, and to political apathy.
Azerbaijan's oil fields and its location straddling a corridor for westward oil and gas exports from Central Asia - bypassing its neighbors Russia and Iran - have made it a focus in the struggle between Moscow and the West for regional influence.
Aliyev, 48, took over in 2003 from his father, the late Geidar Aliyev, who had led Azerbaijan first as Communist Party boss during Soviet times and then as president from 1993 to 2003.
After winning re-election in 2008 amid opposition allegations of vote rigging, Aliyev pushed through a constitutional referendum to scrap presidential term limits, allowing him to rule indefinitely.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602211766535970.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
International observers on Monday sharply criticized elections in Azerbaijan in which the main opposition parties appear to have won no seats, giving a landslide victory to candidates loyal to the country's president, Ilham Aliyev.
A preliminary statement from some 405 Western election observers cited the arbitrary exclusion of opposition candidates and restriction of the opposition's ability to campaign, among other failures in a poll that lacked "a level playing field." Serious irregularities on election day, including ballot-stuffing, were found in 10% of polling stations observed, the statement said.
"Regrettably, our observation of the overall process shows that the conditions necessary for a meaningful democratic election were not established. We are particularly concerned about restrictions of fundamental freedoms, media bias, the dominance of public life by one party, and serious violations on election day," said Ambassador Audrey Glover, head of the observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's election unit, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
Central Elections Commission head Mazahir Panahov said at a televised press conference Monday that the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party appeared to have won 70 seats in the 125-seat legislature. Most of the remaining seats appeared to have been won by independents and smaller parties, many of them loyal to Mr. Aliyev. Turnout was 50.14%, according to preliminary data, Mr. Panahov said.
The two main opposition parties, Musavat and the Popular Front of Azerbaijan appeared to have won no seats, with 90% of votes counted. "We demand the results be annulled and new elections be conducted on the basis of a revised election legislation," said Musavat leader Isa Qambar, the Associated Press reported. He called the vote "illegitimate, undemocratic, untransparent and not free," the AP said.
"Today's parliamentary elections have been held in a democratic and transparent atmosphere, fully reflecting the will of the people," Yeni Azerbaijan reportedly said.
Azerbaijan has become an increasingly important supplier of oil and natural gas since becoming independent with the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991. The country has experienced rapid economic growth, hitting a rate of 34.5% in 2006, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund. But the economy has slowed sharply as a result of the global economic slowdown and lower oil prices. The IMF forecasts that Azerbaijan will grow by 4.3% this year and 1.8% next year.
The country's importance to securing routes to bring oil and gas from the Caspian Sea basin to Western markets has led opposition leaders in Azerbaijan to criticize Western governments for giving Mr. Aliyev a free pass when it comes to abuses of democratic process and human rights.
Azerbaijan has been ruled by Mr. Aliyev and before him his father, Heidar Aliyev, since 1969, with a six-year interlude in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2009, Azerbaijan abolished term limits for presidents, a move initiated by Mr. Aliyev's Yeni Azerbaijan party, which fueled claims from opponents that the Aliyev family has created a form of dynastic rule. Mr. Aliyev's supporters say he is popular because he delivers economic growth.
According to preliminary data, the parliamentary candidate to win by the widest margin in their constituency was Azerbaijan First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, with 94.5% of the vote.