Thousands protest over alleged election fraud
Thousands of angry demonstrators crammed a square in Azerbaijan’s capital today to protest over alleged fraud in last weekend’s parliamentary elections, demonstrating the opposition’s peaceful intentions.
The demonstrators entreated the United States to put ideology over oil and to press petroleum-rich Azerbaijan to institute full democracy.
“Our struggle can end only in victory,” Ali Kerimli, one of the three major opposition leaders, told the crowd.
As the protesters rallied, the Central Election Commission awarded a legislative seat to Kerimli after a recount – suggesting the possibility the government could try to defuse the protest movement by awarding a few more parliamentary seats to the opposition.
Several hours after the rally ended, President Ilham Aliev’s office announced the firing of two regional governors accused of interfering in the elections and prosecutors said four election officials from local commissions had been detained on suspicion of falsifying balloting results and abuse of office.
The dismissal, the detentions and the recount could strengthen the government’s hand by recognising some of the criticism heaped on the elections by international observers.
But the recognition of high-level misdeeds could also increase the opposition’s determination.
Many in the crowd called on the government to resign, suggesting they would not settle for simply more voices in the legislature. Some demonstrators waved Ukrainian flags – looking for inspiration to last year’s Orange Revolution in Ukraine – and called for the opposition to harden its stance against the authorities.
The police force’s history of brutally breaking up unauthorised opposition actions set a precedent for violence if demonstrators should step beyond tight limits in the future.
The Azadliq, or Freedom, opposition coalition called its next rally for Saturday. It was not clear whether it would receive official permission.
Some 15,000 protesters walked down a four-lane road, closed off to traffic, under a sea of orange flags – a colour they borrowed from Ukraine’s protests. The opposition had hoped for30,000-50,000.
In a show of force, 300 riot police wearing helmets and armed with shields stood in rows on the square, while others stood on nearby rooftops. Many plainclothes agents appeared to be mingling in the crowd.
“Police, let us vote for freedom!” shouted knots of young men who stood a few meters from the riot police.
Patriotic songs were piped through a loudspeaker in the square, framed by two huge billboard portraits of late strongman leader, Geidar Aliev, father of the current president.
The Aliev family has dominated for decades, and the opposition has built much of its base on poplar dissatisfaction with the corruption and poverty that grip the Caspian Sea nation in spite of its great potential oil wealth.
One protester’s sign read: “President Bush, Don’t Fail Us Now!” Another poster demanded: “Stop trading our democracy for oil.”
The opposition fears that the US interest in Azerbaijan’s energy riches will trump its stated commitment to expanding democracy around the world. Azerbaijan is the starting point for an oil pipeline to the Mediterranean, a project Washington strongly backed as a way of reducing dependence on Middle East oil.
While Azadliq coalition, which called the march, is trying to emulate the movements that brought opposition leaders to power after disputed elections in Georgia and Ukraine, it lacks some of their strengths: skilful organisation in Ukraine, and wide popular allegiance the leaders enjoyed in Georgia.
The coalition has also been pushed far to the margins of political life, in part through the detentions of its activists and frequent bans on demonstrations.
But it has been buoyed by Western observers’ criticism of the polls for falling short of democratic standards and the reversal of some results. The Central Election Commission annulled Sunday’s vote in two electoral districts and ordered a recount in a third.
The commission annulled the results in 12 of 44 precincts in Binaqadi district, where the governing party contender had been declared winner. As the opposition candidate was leading in all the precincts that were not annulled, the commission’s decision apparently unseats the ruling party candidate.
But Aliev’s New Azerbaijan party will retain a majority with the support of government-affiliated independent lawmakers.
