By Ivan Gharibyan

European and international agencies have decided to help Azerbaijan hold parliamentary elections scheduled for this November. However, the domestic political situation in the country has reached the point when the “patient” has developed metastatic cancer, and no one can help it any longer, though, in justice, they are trying to.

Although Azerbaijan has been a member of the Council of Europe for almost ten years, the country does not meet any of the main standards of European political life nor does it even exert any efforts to. This fact does not, of course, pass unnoticed in Brussels, but, in dealing with official Baku, Europe’s top priority is Azerbaijan’s oil and gas rather than the state of democratic rights and freedoms in that country. In this situation in his interview with Euronews President Ilham Aliyev does not deny the fact of his being “king”, but the country continues a CE member. Moreover, the double-standard policy pursued by Europeans allows them to cooperate with the Azerbaijani authorities in organizing elections thereby legitimizing the authoritarian regime in the country.

The regime, in turn, is becoming more and more aggressive and cruel as the Azerbaijani people, which has for years been befooled by means of propaganda, is coming to realize its being deprived of all right. The results of the local elections late last year definitively proved the public support for the Yeni Azerbaijan (New Azerbaijan) party had fallen. Or rather, it was a dramatic fall in turnout – 2/3 of Azerbaijani citizens ignored the senseless election campaign.

However, the Aliyev clan, which has amassed an enormous fortune, has not intention to retreat! To ensure a “convincing victory” of the ruling party, in 2005 the incumbent regime abolished elections of some Parliament members on party tickets, as the proportional representation system enabled some opposition parties to get into Parliament. The opponents of the incumbent regime have to forget about this possibility: the Azerbaijani Constitution only provides for the electoral system of single-member constituencies. This, of course, enables the authorities to use the government agencies to scupper the Opposition’s election chances. In the 2005 elections all the opposition political parties of Azerbaijan managed to win in five election districts – that victory was, of course, “sanctioned” by the authorities. Over the period the form of government has not changed in Azerbaijan. So there is hardly any sense in helping that country to organize elections.

T.P.