24 September 2008
BBC Monitoring

The campaign for the 15 October presidential election in Azerbaijan formally began on 17 September. The incumbent president, Ilham Aliyev, is standing again and is likely to win easily. The main opposition parties are boycotting the election, the state-run and private media openly favour Aliyev over the other six minor candidates, and previous experience inspires little confidence in the democratic credentials of the electoral process. The main opposition bloc, Azadliq (Freedom), unites the People's Front of Azerbaijan Party (PFAP), the Civic Development Party and the Liberal Party. It is boycotting the vote on the grounds that the government refused to implement recommendations by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Council of Europe after the last elections. These organizations had called on the governing New Azerbaijan Party to relinquish its political control of the election commissions.

The Council of Europe's Venice Commission, which advises member-states on electoral law, made the proposals in 2006 following the disputed 2005 parliamentary election. The Azerbaijani authorities rejected opposition demands for equal representation on election commissions, and on 2 June 2008 parliament approved amendments to the election law that failed to address this issue. The amendments furthermore cut the election campaign from four months to 75 days, and allowed open electioneering only in the 27 days before the vote.

In addition to concerns about the brief election campaign, opposition parties complain that the authorities rarely give them permission to hold rallies in high-profile, easily accessible places in major cities.

Four other significant opposition parties - Musavat, the Azarbaycan Milli Istiqlal Party, the Democratic Party and the For Azerbaijan movement - are also boycotting the vote.

Campaigning stops at midnight on 13 October. On Sunday 15 October the polling stations will be open from 0800 until 2000 (0200-1500 gmt). Approximately 4.5 million voters are registered. Nagornyy Karabakh and substantial adjacent territory are occupied by Armenian forces, and no voting will take place there. Presidency

Azerbaijan is a presidential republic, and the president is elected by universal secret ballot for a five-year term. Under the 1995 constitution the country has a strong executive presidency, with the president serving as both head of state and head of government. He appoints ministers, heads of district government and ambassadors, as well as the mayor of the capital, Baku. The president also makes senior judicial, military and a wide range of other appointments and has broad authority to dissolve parliament. The president also formally appoints the prime minister after consulting parliament.

Candidates

Ilham Aliyev was elected to replace his late father Heydar as president in 2003 in a vote regarded by international observers to have failed to meet democratic requirements. He chairs the governing New Azerbaijan Party and is expected to win the vote easily.

In the absence of candidates from any of the major opposition parties, the chief opposition contender is Iqbal Agazada, leader and sole member of parliament of the Hope Party. The party backed Isa Qambar, the Musavat Party leader and main opposition candidate in the 2003 presidential election. Agazada was sentenced to three years in prison after protesting against the conduct of that election, and amnestied along with other protestors in 2005.

Fazil Qazanfaroglu, leader and sole member of parliament of the opposition Great Creation Party, decided to stand after the Central Electoral Commission granted the party seats on the Commission itself and the authorities gave it an office. Qazanfaroglu was previously an outspoken member of the opposition PFAP, but has since toned down his rhetoric. Founded prior to the parliamentary elections in 2005, his party has not been part of any of the major opposition blocs. He has said he hopes to win the votes that would otherwise have gone to the boycotting parties.

Qulamhuseyn Alibayli quit the PFAP parliamentary group that he used to chair in order to stand as an independent opposition candidate. He has criticized the PFAP's decision to boycott the polls.

The leader of the small opposition Liberal Democratic Party, Fuad Aliyev, is also standing.

Candidates representing pro-government parties are also standing:

Hafiz Haciyev, leader of the Modern Musavat Party, is an ally of the powerful Emergencies Minister and former customs chief Kamaladdin Heydarov and a vocal critic of opposition parties.

Qudrat Hasanquliyev is an MP for the pro-government United Azerbaijan People's Front Party, which split from the opposition PFAP in 2002. He is also seen as an ally of Heydarov.

Media

The election law amendments passed in June 2008 cut free air-time for candidates on state-run Azerbaijan TV. They each now have six hour-long slots on the Public TV and radio channels. The candidates also have the right to have their programmes published in state newspapers, and can buy air-time on private TV stations. The opposition has complained that the state media and five private TV channels slant their coverage towards President Aliyev. The owners of several of the private channels have close ties to officials.

In May 2008 Council of Europe rapporteur Andreas Herkel condemned trials against journalists as "fabricated" and said media freedom was deteriorating in Azerbaijan. Several leading independent and opposition-minded journalists have been imprisoned on charges widely regarded as trumped-up in recent years. Satirist Sakit Zahidov was sentenced to three years in prison in 2006, editor and publisher Eynulla Fatullayev to eight years in 2007, and journalist Musviq Huseynov and the editor-in-chief of the leading opposition Azadliq paper Qanimat Zahidov to six and four years respectively in 2008.

Links

Central Election Commission - http://www.cec.gov.az/en/main_en.htm http://www.cec.gov.az/en/main_en.htm/I>
New Azerbaijan Party - http://www.yap.org.az/en/ http://www.yap.org.az/en/
Musavat Party - http://isagambar.az/index-en.html http://isagambar.az/index-en.html
Azerbaijan Public TV - http://www.itv.az/english/ http://www.itv.az/english/
Elections 2008 NGO site - http://www.sechki2008.org/site/?lang=2&lang=2 http://www.sechki2008.org/site/?lang=2&lang=2