Friday, December 5, 2008
Waiting Game
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/election/azerbaijan/aew102700b.shtml
Azerbaijan's Future
Looking at Azerbaijan’s past elections, the oppositions have expressed their grievances to the courts of appeal and there are talks on how to effectively change the constitution in order to facilitate free and fair elections in future. In recent talks in Helinski, there were recommendations for the OSCE to contribute post-election conflict because they were a crucial part of the international processes.
Some of the recommendations by International observers to develop a democratic atmosphere in Azerbaijan were; separate state affairs from religion, high quality, free and independent media to promote dialogue with civic society and finally to maintain international democratic standards and comply with OSCE and Council of Europe resolutions and commitments.
Even though the courts of appeal rejected the opposition’s appeals, it would be interesting to observe whether the intensity of talks with the international community will be influential in Azerbaijan’s future elections.
Sources:
http://avciya.az/eng/uploads/posts/kitablar/elect_2008_in_docs_eng.pdf
http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=cat&catid=143&subcatid=106&lang=EN&page=1
http://www.azerbaijan.az/_News/_news_e.html?lang=en
Thursday, November 20, 2008
More Azeri Government Restrictions?
This arrest was very unsettling for the United States. The United States perceived it as throwing a potential Azeri journalist in jail since he was not part of the NAP. This could be Azerbaijan’s government cracking down on the opposition, but since the government considered a possibility in rehearing Fatullayev’s case, it gave hope to the United States and other humanitarian organizations that Azerbaijan is not going to restrict the Azeri rights.
Another instance that makes the world nervous is the issue of the main opposition parties website, Azadliq. Azadliq had anti-Aliyev, which was making the government nervous. The intelligence agencies started to crack down on anti-Aliyev and those websites and people who discuss mobilization, protest, and opposition of the NAP. As it turns out, Azadliq’s website was attacked, then the archives of the whole website were deleted, allegedly down by Azeri intelligence.
This further asks the question if Azerbaijan is going to lose more rights with Aliyev’s second term, and if the government is going to turn into a more authoritarian government. This leads me to believe that the opposition is going to have a sudden mobilization by the opposition that the government is not going to expect. When it happens there will be harsh repression from the government, leading Aliyev to more power.
http://www.lexisnexis.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5184028689&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5184026486&cisb=22_T5184026485&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=10962&docNo=5
http://www.lexisnexis.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5184028689&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5184026486&cisb=22_T5184026485&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=10962&docNo=1
http://www.lexisnexis.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5184086549&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5184084899&cisb=22_T5184084898&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=10962&docNo=2
Friday, November 14, 2008
OSCE Findings
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The Next 5 Years
Either way the Azeri people look at what Aliyev may do, it will be crucial to Azerbaijan, and determine Aliyev’s fate as a politician. Personally, I believe that Aliyev will try to make it a more authoritarian government while still trying to make the Azeri people happy along the way to accept a transition to a more authoritarian government.
Oddly enough, on November 9, 2008, the New Azerbaijan Party proposed to hold a referendum on removing the ban on the number of terms an Azeri president can hold office. Since Aliyev is in his second presidential term, unless this referendum could get passed, the next 5 years is his last 5 years. The NAP states that the constitution should hold no such restriction on the president.
Sure enough the opposition party responded this week on November 10 demanding a fresh presidential election due to “numerous irregularities” (3). This could be because they want their shot to run in the election after they decided that refusing to run would do nothing but be a bad decision when the results came out, or because they are afraid the referendum will be passed.
Main questions regarding this information are that the opposition wants a new election because they regret boycotting the election, or because they are afraid the referendum will be passed? Also, how will the Azeri people respond to no limit to the presidential election? Will the reaction of the referendum be good, or cause suspicion about Aliyev among the Azeri people?
1.http://www.lexisnexis.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5112691255&format=GNBFI&sort=DATE,A,H&startDocNo=76&resultsUrlKey=29_T5112691202&cisb=22_T5112694379&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=10962&docNo=76
2.http://www.lexisnexis.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5112879009&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5112874014&cisb=22_T5112874013&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=10962&docNo=6
3.http://www.lexisnexis.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5112879009&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5112874014&cisb=22_T5112874013&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=10962&docNo=5
Friday, November 7, 2008
No Protesting - Why?
Since there is no protesting going on, maybe they are planning something bigger than a protest. In October 2005, the health minister was arrested after allegedly planning a coup. It is possible that the opposition party is gathering more supporters, perhaps in the government sphere to arrange a successful coup. It is hard to say what is going to occur, but since it has been weeks after the election, this is possibly the only way they think they can get their voice heard in their “free” democratic country.
Sources:
http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=5&hid=3&sid=79d5c15f-dc3e-4016-9633-be48a46b4c51%40sessionmgr9&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#db=nfh&AN=34769650
http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=5&hid=3&sid=79d5c15f-dc3e-4016-9633-be48a46b4c51%40sessionmgr9&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#db=nfh&AN=34784389
Book: Caucasus Region: Geopolitical Nexus? By: Aleksandro I. Kapidze