THE last time a presidential election was held in Azerbaijan, in 2013, the central election commission began releasing the results a day before voting had even started. Embarrassed officials blamed a technical glitch. This time round, in the election held on April 11th, officials at least kept up the pretence of democracy by withholding results for a full four hours after the final vote was cast. But the outcome was never in doubt. Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father in 2003, won a fourth term with around 86% of the vote.
The result was hardly a cliff-hanger. Both of the two main opposition parties—Musavat (Equality) and the National Council of Democratic Forces—boycotted the election, which Mr Aliyev had unexpectedly brought forward from October. Although there were seven presidential challengers, “all of them were fake candidates”, says Shahin Rzayev, a Baku-based political analyst.
Mr Aliyev is well entrenched. Amendments to the...Continue reading
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