Translated material
Aliyev steps ahead
The New Azerbaijan Party promises voters paradise in the 21st century
Tomorrow parliamentary elections will be held for the second time in independent Azerbaijan. The key role, as in previous ones, is played by the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. She built her election campaign emphasizing the successes achieved - socio-political stability, a truce in the Karabakh conflict zone and the successful use of the nation's main wealth - oil. This time the party list is headed by Ilham Aliyev, the son of the president and one of his deputies in the party leadership, first vice-president of the Azerbaijan State Oil Company. He promised “a heavenly life for every citizen of the republic in the 21st century,” and at one of the election rallies he assured voters: “We crushed the Armenians in Sydney, we will crush them in Karabakh!” Obviously, to make this political figure more impressive, data on the “family tree of Heydar Aliyev’s family over the past 200 years” was published.Representatives of the opposition parties Popular Front, Yeni Musavat, Democratic Party of Azerbaijan and others, according to forecasts of independent sociological centers, will be able to obtain no more than 12% of the mandates in the 125-seat parliament. It was not possible to exclude the opposition from participating in the elections - under pressure from the US State Department and international democratic institutions, President Aliyev was forced to turn to the Central Election Commission with a request to register opposition parties, although previously “dead souls” were found in their signature lists. The opposition based its campaign on harsh criticism of the current authorities and is confident that voters trust it more than the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. Alas, no political force enjoys absolute trust. And the election promises of political rivals are not much different. Everyone promises to resolve the Karabakh problem, fight corruption and put the country on the path to economic prosperity. Representatives of the OSCE, the European Union, various international democratic institutions and centers from 30 countries, including CIS countries, will monitor the voting process.