Leader Hails Poll 'Triumph', OSCE Concerned
Azerbaijani strongman Ilham Aliyev on Thursday hailed as a "triumph of democracy" a landslide election victory that further extended the ruling dynasty's grip on power but OSCE observers complained the vote was marred by serious problems.
Final results saw Aliyev score 84.6 percent to win a third presidential term at Wednesday's vote in the ex-Soviet state, while main opposition challenger Jamil Hasanli was far back in second place with 5.5 percent, the electoral commission said.
Aliyev hailed the polls as a "triumph for democracy" in a televised address broadcast early Thursday morning, pledging over the next five years to crack down on rampant corruption that critics claim his rule has fostered.
"The fact that this vote was free and transparent is another important step towards democracy," Aliyev added.
But observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the vote was marred by "significant problems" and "underscored the serious nature of the shortcomings that need to be addressed" for Azerbaijan to meet its commitments.
Their report slammed a lack of guarantee of a "level playing field" for candidates and said that the vote count was "assessed in overwhelmingly negative terms, with 58 per cent of observed polling stations assessed as bad or very bad".
The 51-year-old Aliyev came to power in a disputed 2003 vote after the death of his powerful father Heydar, a former KGB officer and Communist-era boss who ruled the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million people for the preceding 10 years.
He was re-elected in 2008 with 89 percent of the vote in a poll called neither free nor fair by Western observers and pushed through a referendum a year later that allowed him to run this time round.
Aliyev, who has near-total control over the media in the country, had stayed away from televised debates and passed up public rallies ahead of the polls.
Some 72 percent of Azerbaijan's roughly five million registered voters cast their ballots, the central electoral commission said.
'We will fight these falsifications'
Main challenger Hasanli blasted the election, alleging a string of violations, including voters being bussed round to cast ballots at multiple polling stations, ballot-stuffing and observers being barred from monitoring the vote.
"We will use all legal means to fight these falsifications," Hasanli said at a press conference Thursday.
Hasanli said the opposition had applied to authorities in Baku to hold a rally Saturday but were still waiting for official permission.
"We are sure that with the strength of the people and strength of the youth, we will prevail," he said.
Fuelled by billions of petrodollars, living standards in the mainly Muslim nation have soared in the past decade, with Azerbaijan becoming an increasingly important energy supplier to Europe and an ally of NATO.
As well as being relatively unchallenged at home, Aliyev enjoys warm relations with Washington and Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the first to congratulate him.
Normally fragmented, Azerbaijan's weakened opposition -- much of which boycotted the 2008 poll -- in May seemed primed for a genuine challenge after rallying around a single candidate.
Hasanli caused a stir in televised debates by accusing the president and his family of massive corruption, but struggled to get his message heard in a stifling pre-election atmosphere.
Rights groups accused the authorities of an intense clampdown on dissent ahead of the poll, including the jailing of scores of critics on charges the opposition say are trumped-up.
Aliyev is expected to continue treading a cautious path between the West and Russia after his expected victory, ensuring that Azerbaijan remains a key energy source for Europe and a US ally while not upsetting its giant northern neighbor Russia.
A huge issue for his new term will be the festering conflict with Yerevan over the Armenian-controlled region of Nagorny Karabakh which Baku had threatened to win back by force.
Despite years of negotiations since Armenian-backed separatists seized the region in a 1990s war that killed 30,000 people, the two sides have still not signed a final peace deal.
At home, analysts say Aliyev faces a tougher task keeping rising discontent over high-level corruption and inequality in check.
Source: Agence France Presse
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