BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – Azerbaijan’s opposition called Nov. 10 for the annulment of all results of weekend parliamentary elections and for a new vote, saying the balloting was marred by massive violations.
The statement came after leaders of the main opposition coalition Azadliq, or Freedom, and other groups met to plot strategy a day after organizing a mass rally to protest alleged fraud in Sunday’s elections in the oil-rich former Soviet republic.
A joint statement said the elections, in which official results gave the largest number of seats to the ruling New Azerbaijan party, were marred by “gross violations of the law.”
“The political will of the Azerbaijani people has not been respected,” the opposition statement said.
International observers criticized the polls for falling short of democratic standards, saying they had witnessed attempts to influence voter choices, unauthorized persons directing or interfering in the voting process and cases of ballot stuffing.
The opposition had earlier called for a new vote in four-fifths of the country’s electoral districts. The government rejected that demand, but the Central Election Commission on Nov. 9 awarded a legislative seat to an opposition leader after a recount – suggesting it could try to defuse protests by granting a few more parliamentary seats to the opposition.
The opposition also vowed Thursday to hold more rallies across the country, after a Nov. 9 demonstration in the capital drew about 15,000 people. The opposition has sought to follow the example of the massive protests that helped usher opposition leaders to power after disputed votes in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan in the past two years.
President Ilham Aliev’s authoritarian government, which has threatened to crack down on the opposition if it holds unauthorized protests, has not responded yet to a request for permission to hold another opposition rally on Nov. 12.
Despite simmering resentment over widespread corruption that has helped keep more than 40 percent of the population in poverty despite the nation’s oil wealth, many Azerbaijanis do not want to defy the authorities or are fearful of doing so.
Western countries regard this small secular Muslim nation sandwiched between Iran and Russia as an important source of oil and are eager to see stability maintained.
In an effort to address international criticism about the conduct of the elections, Aliev on Nov. 10 fired of two regional governors accused of interfering in the elections, and prosecutors said four election officials from local commissions had been detained on suspicion of falsifying results and abuse of office.
But Eldar Namazov, head of the opposition New Policy movement, dismissed the government’s concessions as “clearly not enough” and vowed that protests would continue regardless of whether the authorities grant permission.
“If they try to ban all rallies, we will be obliged to turn to the constitution and defend our rights,” he told The Associated Press.
Aliev’s New Azerbaijan party, which planned a victory rally on Thursday, retained a majority in the 125-seat parliament with the support of government-affiliated independent lawmakers, with the opposition receiving only a handful of seats, according to official results.Aliev in 2003 succeeded his father, Heydar Aliev, a Soviet-era leader who had ruled with an iron grip, in corrupt elections that sparked widespread opposition protests, ending in violence and the arrest of opposition leaders.
