Azerbaijan: Opposition mulls presidential election boycott

Mina Muradova: 6/09/08

Azerbaijani opposition leaders are condemning recent election code amendments, which they claim will scuttle any hopes for a free-and-fair vote in the upcoming October 15 presidential election. At the same time, they remain divided over the best way to respond.

On June 2, Azerbaijan's parliament, or Milli Majlis, adopted election code amendments that will slash the presidential campaign from four months to 75 days, and reduce the so-called media and voter "agitation period" from two months to 28 days. Barriers for registration as a candidate were also reduced. A prospective candidate now needs to gather 40,000 signatures (down from 45,000) and does not need to make a cash bank deposit to secure his or her candidacy.

Government officials have presented the changes as proof that they are not attempting to squash the opposition ahead of the presidential vote. Azerbaijan's "weak" opposition can only benefit from a shorter campaign period, Trend news agency reported parliamentary legal policy committee chairperson Ali Huseynov as saying on June 6.

"[The] experience of ... previous elections, as well as international standards on election legislation and [the] positive practice of various countries have been taken into consideration," Huseynov asserted.

Opposition leaders, however, aren't buying the government's arguments for making the changes. On May 30, the three-party Azadlig (Freedom) coalition announced plans to boycott the vote and called on other parties to join its action.

In a June 6 interview with the Russian-language newspaper Nedel'ya (Week), Lala Shovkat Hajiyeva, leader of the Liberal Party, a member of the Azadlig coalition, outlined a laundry list of complaints, ranging from the imprisonment of journalists to the closure of opposition offices and difficulties with holding rallies. "[T]oday there is no political competition in the country," Shovkat Hajiyeva said.

Opposition Musavat Party leader Isa Gambar, a presidential candidate whose recent relations with Azadlig have been chilly, charged that the amendments simply showed the government's "strong fear" of a "real" opposition taking part in the election. Gambar takes issue with the amendments' failure to provide for equal representation on election commissions for pro-government and opposition representatives, as well as a decision to deny candidates free ad time on television channels other than Public Television. "Restrictions on access to TV mean that authorities, who are conducting their propaganda 24 hours a day during the whole year, are afraid that the opposition would have a few hours for contact with voters," Gambar said.

Gambar, who has called on opposition leaders to sit down and coordinate a united position on the code revisions, said his own party "in the near future" would make a final decision about participation in the election boycott.

Opposition presidential candidate Eldar Namazov opposes a boycott strategy, insisting that it "will accomplish nothing." Instead, Namazov told EurasiaNet that he plans to file an appeal with the Constitutional Court.

Representatives of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party appear unconcerned about the election boycott possibility. "[T]he opposition's election boycott will not create problems for the authorities." predicted parliamentarian Rabiyyat Aslanova, head of parliament's Human Rights Committee, in a June 3 interview with the opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat. "[L]et them not forget that the words ‘boycott,' ‘demonstration' and ‘protest' are no longer relevant for an Azerbaijani citizen."

Another senior MP – deputy speaker Ziyafat Asgarov – insisted that a boycott would discredit the opposition itself more than the government. By boycotting the Central Election Commission's sessions, the opposition itself is to blame for the lack of equal representation on election commissions, he charged at parliament's June 2 session. "[Y]ou yourselves have proved that you are not interested in the formation of the CEC in line with the principle of normal parity," Asgarov said in televised statements.

Some Baku observers suggest opposition parties are trying to shift blame for their own poor performance and lack of popularity with voters. "Real changes can be achieved not through consultations with international institutions, but through real work by political forces inside the country," said political analyst Ilgar Mammadov.

A boycott will only show that the opposition is "useless as a political force," Mammadov continued.

"They are absolutely inactive.... A political party's power consists in ongoing meetings with voters, regardless of whether or not the election campaign has started." [Editor's Note: Mammadov serves on the board of the Open Society Assistance Foundation Azerbaijan, which is part of the Soros Foundations Network. EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices of the Open Society Institute, which is also part of the foundation network].

While it has often been mulled in the past, the concept of a single opposition candidate was dismissed early during this election year. Musavat Party leader Gambar called the notion "a virus inculcated by the authorities."

"It can't be a priority; the priority must be holding free and fair elections in the country. Democratic forces will come to power only if free elections are conducted," he said.

Editor's Note: Mina Muradova is a freelance reporter based in Baku.

Posted June 9, 2008 © Eurasianet