Azerbaijan: Presidential Election Concerns

Following disputed presidential elections in Georgia and Armenia earlier this year, as well as state of emergencies declared in Tbilisi and Yerevan, all eyes are now on Azerbaijan as it prepares to go to the polls. Few expect anything but a second term in office for the incumbent, Ilham Aliyev, in the 15 October presidential election and bloggers seem to agree.

Thoughts on the Road, for example, says that the vote is not so much a contest, but more of a formality.

The election season has begun here - with posters […] plastered on walls around the city. The posters remind me of those that I saw in Russia before the election there, depicting “ordinary citizens” who are apparently going to exercise their civic duty and go vote.

The president also has some posters up, just a photo of himself and a short phrase that identifies himself as candidate. I haven’t seen posters for any other candidates.

[…]

The last issue of Zerkalo carried on page two an article that depicts the contrasting situations for the the New Azerbaijan Party (the ruling party) and its opponents. YAP, as it is known from its Azerbaijani initials, held its meeting in a stadium. Attending the meeting thousands of government workers, who were essentially required to attend.

The opponents of the governments, however, were only able to get permission to meet at a remote location.

The View from Baku, however, reports that the situation is somewhat better in the broadcast media with presidential debates being aired each night on TV. Nevertheless, the blog notes, that is not to say the situation is to be welcomed, especially when the incumbent is represented by a stand-in and there is no discussion.

The Central Election Commission here in Baku mandated that candidates be given three hours of debate time on television and, on alternating days, three hours on radio. That’s six hours a week, every week, until Election Day, October 15th! But to call it a “debate” is a disservice to the word. […]

Each gets exactly 8 minutes and 35 seconds to speak his, or in the case of the surrogate for the incumbent president, her mind. […]

The full post is available on Global Voices Online.