NAP

The New Azerbaijan Party is a center-right party, currently boasting over 400,000 members, created in the wake of the Soviet Union. Created in 1988 by a group of intellectuals led by Heydar Aliyev, the New Azerbaijan Party’s goals are, “…aimed at strengthening the state independency, building democratic, legal, and secular state and ensuring the peaceful and prosperous life of the citizens.” (www.yap.org.az)

In 1993, Aliyev was elected President and the party saw sweeping gains in the 1995 parliamentary elections. The NAP won again in 2003 with the election of IIham Aliyev, previously the NAP deputy chairman, who captured over 76% of the vote. The 2003 election was highly controversial, as Human Rights Watch held that the NAP manipulated the election to win. "Human Rights Watch research found that the government has heavily intervened in the campaigning process in favor of Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev, son of current President Heidar Aliyev. The government has stacked the Central Election Commission and local election commission with its supporters, and banned local non-governmental organizations from monitoring the vote. As the elections draw nearer, government officials have openly sided with the campaign of Ilham Aliyev, constantly obstructing opposition rallies and attempting to limit public participation in opposition events. In some cases, local officials have closed all the roads into town during opposition rallies, or have extended working and school hours - on one occasion, even declaring a Sunday work day - to prevent participation in opposition rallies." (http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/azerbaijan/index.htm)

See also: http://www.osce.org/documents/html/pdftohtml/1151_en.pdf.html

Despite the allegations of impropriety, the NAP seems to be positioned for another win. With the major opposition party boycotting the election, the incumbent president, Aliyev should win re-election with no problem. However, even it seems as if Aliyev would still have a good chance to win the election as a few former opposition leaders have decided to back him. (http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1298175&lang=EN)

Additionally, the NAP is planning on rolling out new election strategies that draw heavily on those used in other countries, with a new slogan and increasing the use of technology in trying to get their message out. (http://news.trendaz.com/?show=news&newsid=1296591&lang=EN)