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The rally in Baku (Caucasian Knot)

Several thousand people protested in Baku on 10 March, in a rally organised by Azerbaijan’s two largest oppo­si­tion groups against President Ilham Aliyev. The groups have announced they plan to boycott the pres­i­den­tial elections scheduled for 11 April.

The protest was organised by the Musavat party and the National Council of Demo­c­ra­t­ic Forces (NCDF), the two biggest oppo­si­tion groups in Azer­bai­jan. The NCDF, a coalition of oppo­si­tion parties, includes the Popular Front Party of Azer­bai­jan (PFPA), several members of which have been impris­oned on what rights groups say are polit­i­cal­ly motivated charges.

Although the rally was sanc­tioned by the author­i­ties, organ­is­ers were warned by police that they could not use slogans other than the ones included in the letter of accep­tance to the Mayor’s Office.

Baku police estimated that only 1,500 people took part in the rally, while the oppo­si­tion claims their number reached 10,000.

Caucasian Knot quoted Ali Kerimli, the leader of the Popular Front, as saying that the intention of the demon­stra­tion was to ‘say no to robbery, false elections, and monarchy’. He said that during his 15 years as President, Aliyev’s gov­ern­ment has been ‘unable solve any problem’ in the country.

The President’s Office issued a decree in early February, bringing forward the election from 17 October to 11 April. Aliyev had already announced his intention to run for a fourth term earlier in February.

Ilham Aliyev, from the ruling New Azer­bai­jan Party, has led the country for 15 years. He was first elected in 2003, taking over from his late father Heydar Aliyev, who had ruled the country since inde­pen­dence. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2013.

The official results of the 2013 elections gave Aliyev almost 85% of the vote, but the results have been ques­tioned by a number of observers. The final report from OSCE obser­va­tion mission reported wide­spread candidate and voter intim­i­da­tion, as well as a limited media envi­ron­ment, and arrests and the use of force against jour­nal­ists and activists.

If re-elected again, Aliyev could remain in office until at least 2025.

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