Azerbaijan votes in presidential election
Ilham Aliyev set for fourth term • Father ruled for decade
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev was expected to win a fourth term at an election on Wednesday that his opponents are boycotting because of a crackdown on dissent and what they say is likely rigging in his favor.
The former Soviet republic’s huge energy reserves and strategic location on the Caspian Sea make it an important energy alternative for Europe to Russian supply.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. with the singing of the national anthem and voters began casting ballots into white transparent boxes.
“We are boycotting this election and view the vote as the appointment of Ilham Aliyev for another term in office,” Arif Gajily, head of an opposition Musavat Party, told Reuters. “This vote cannot be regarded as legitimate.”
Aliyev, 56, and his supporters deny allegations of voter fraud and say dissent is not suppressed.
“Ilham Aliyev is a good president and we want him to continue fulfilling his duties,” military serviceman Anar Piriyev said when he voted in the center of the capital Baku.
Aliyev was first elected in October 2003, two months before the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, who ruled for 10 years.
He cemented his position with two referendums, one in 2009 that scrapped a twoterm presidential limit and another in 2016 that extended the presidential term to seven years from five.
Aliyev brought forward the date of the vote to April 11 from October 17, a move his allies said was necessary to avoid presidential and parliamentary elections clashing in 2025.
Seven candidates are running but critics question whether they are actual opponents. Monitors including the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe are watching the vote.
“The current legal framework and its implementation impede free election campaigning, noting previously voiced concerns over limitations to fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association,” the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE said in a report in March.
Aliyev has tried to strike a balance between Azerbaijan’s former Soviet master Russia and the West, notably on energy policy.
His rule has benefited from a boom fueled by oil exports, but a slump in global crude prices in the last three years has weakened the Azeri currency and shrunk the economy.
Many people struggle on low incomes amid growing inequality, and tension is rising with neighboring Armenia over a territorial conflict that caused a war in the 1990s.
“I deleted names of all candidates from the ballot as our life is not improving with this president, while other candidates don’t deserve this post,” said 64-year-old Asmar Kasymova.
There are 5.3 million eligible voters in the country of nine million people and the president is elected by an absolute majority of votes cast. The Central Election Commission said turnout was about 61% by 3 p.m. and there were no complaints about irregularities.