Azerbaijan autocrat set to win polls boycotted by opposition
POOL/AFP/File / DENIS BALIBOUSE, DENIS BALIBOUSE Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev surprised the opposition by holding the vote six months early
Azerbaijanis voted on Wednesday in a snap presidential election boycotted by the main opposition parties and set to extend the autocratic rule of President Ilham Aliyev.
An Aliyev victory is widely seen as a foregone conclusion with the Caspian state's downtrodden opposition unable to mount a serious challenge to his authoritarian rule.
His position has also been boosted by the steady influx of petrodollars into his government's coffers.
Opposition parties in the tightly-controlled Caucasus nation have said the elections are a sham and accused the authorities of preparing to rig the vote.
They have also condemned Aliyev's surprise -- and unexplained -- decision to hold the election six months ahead of schedule, saying it was aimed at shortening the campaign period and hampering the opposition's efforts to prevent vote-rigging.
"All previous elections in Azerbaijan were falsified and held with blatant violations of the electoral law. These elections will be no exception," said the executive secretary of the opposition Republican Alternative Movement, Natig Jafarli.
In a statement released ahead of the vote, 11 leading Azerbaijani rights activists said the "election environment and electoral legislation did not provide guarantees for free and fair elections."
"The elections are completely non-competitive and without political alternative," they said, describing the media environment in the run-up to the election as "alarming".
AFP / Tofik BABAYEV People voting at a polling station in Baku. The result was in little doubt with the oppposition boycotting
The authorities rejected the opposition's criticism, insisting the vote will be free and fair.
The head of the Central Election Commission said turnout was 69.9% at 1300 GMT, nine hours after polls opened, but opposition and rights activists expressed doubts about the accuracy of the figures.
- 'Unprecedented' powers -
At a polling station in the capital Baku, 38-year-old schoolteacher Elmira Balayeva said she had voted for Aliyev because he was the only candidate capable of steering the country towards economic wellbeing and political stability.
"There is no alternative to Aliyev. Only thanks to him is Azerbaijan a stable country with a strong economy," she said after casting her ballot.
But for Natig Veliyev, a 27-year-old student who didn't bother to vote, "the elections are pure farce."
"We have never seen free elections in this country. Aliyev simply extends his reign again and again."
Poised to secure a fourth consecutive term, Aliyev, 56, was first elected in 2003, after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev.
A former KGB officer and communist-era leader, Aliyev senior had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.
Ilham Aliyev was re-elected in 2008 and 2013 in polls that were denounced by opposition parties as fraudulent.
In 2009, he amended the country's constitution so he could run for an unlimited number of presidential terms, a move criticised by rights advocates.
In 2016, Azerbaijan adopted fresh controversial constitutional amendments, extending the president's term in office from five to seven years.
The changes drew criticism from Council of Europe constitutional law experts as "severely upsetting the balance of powers" and giving the president "unprecedented" authority.
AFP / TOFIK BABAYEV Aliyev has also seen his position boosted by the steady influx of petrodollars into his government's coffers
Cementing his family's decades-long grip on power, the president last year appointed his wife Mehriban Aliyeva as first vice president.
Apart from the incumbent president, seven candidates are running in the poll -- all low-profile figures who have barely carried out any campaigning.
- 'Hidden wealth' -
Supporters have praised the Aliyevs for turning a republic once thought of as an ex-Soviet backwater into a flourishing energy supplier to Europe.
AFP / JGD Azerbaijan
But critics argue they have crushed opposition and used their power to fund a lavish lifestyle for themselves and their family. Aliyev has denied accusations of rights abuses and corruption.
Monitored by international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the polls were due to close at 1500 GMT.
Some 5.2 million people are registered to vote.
The Central Election Commission was to begin announcing results late Wednesday, following government-commissioned exit polls released shortly after the vote closes.
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