People's Front of Azerbaijan Party election campaign broadcast

Azerbaijani parliamentary candidate Ali Kerimov, first deputy chairman of the People's Front of Azerbaijan Party, appears in the first TV campaign broadcast on 2nd October at 1700 gmt.

The programme began with archive footage of the PFAP's activities, the party's late chairman and former Azerbaijani president, Abulfaz Elchibey, and Ali Kerimov at rallies. Voice over video says: "The PFAP is a party that creates glorious history, the people's modern faith. Trust yourselves and us. Vote for the PFAP". Message on the screen says "Vote for the PFAP".

Ali Kerimov began his speech at 1702 gmt. He said that the 1993 presidential, 1995 parliamentary, 1998 presidential and 1999 municipal elections in Azerbaijan had been forged. He said that his party wanted the forthcoming parliamentary elections to be democratic but "unfortunately the ruling regime is working on forging these elections as well" - undemocratic clauses have been preserved in the election laws, some leading opposition parties and candidates have not been registered for the elections. The authorities are getting ready to forge the elections as they know that they will not be able to win the people's vote, he said.

Kerimov said that the only tangible results of the current authorities' seven years in office were the occupation of 20 per cent of the country's territory and one million refugees. He accused the authorities of coming to power in a "mutiny" in June 1993 and losing the country's territories. "The current authorities bear responsibility for the loss of these regions. Under these authorities the number of refugees in Azerbaijan has reached one million," he said.

Kerimov said that the refugees were "living in conditions offensive to human dignity." The authorities' relief effort to the refugees amounts to less than 15m dollars a year while officials manage to misappropriate 35m dollars from one bank in one day. "It seems that the Azerbaijani authorities have submitted to this reality and are doing nothing for these people's return to their native land. Previously Heydar Aliyev used to promise the refugees that they would return in his Novruz and New Year messages. Now this is forgotten. It seems that they want to make us believe that this is past history. They want Azerbaijanis to forget Nagornyy Karabakh."

Then Kerimov spoke about the difficult situation in the country's social and economic spheres. "The majority of Azerbaijanis are unemployed. It is not possible to count the unemployed, it is easier to count the employed." More than one million people have left the republic to earn money abroad. "Ninety per cent of the Azerbaijani population are struggling for their lives while most of Azerbaijan's wealth is accumulated in the hands of three or five per cent of the people close to the current authorities." Pensions, salaries and scholarships are very low while prices have reached world levels. "In this situation, bribery and corruption are raging in the country" and Azerbaijan is ranked third among the most corrupt countries. "All spheres of the economy have been ruined. All agricultural technical equipment was sold to Iran as scrap-metal some years ago." Having no agricultural equipment to work the land, the rural population has become unemployed. Industrial production has also been ruined in Azerbaijan - enterprises' equipment has been sold as scrap-metal. Only walls remain at enterprises. "These walls have been privatized for a song" by people close to the authorities. The privatized enterprises do not operate and workers have become unemployed.

Touching upon the oil and gas industry, Kerimov said that the country, which used to be known in the world for its oil and gas, was facing an energy crisis this winter. He also said that funds received from oil contracts were being kept outside Azerbaijan and that the authorities wanted these funds to be beyond anyone's control.

At the end of his campaign broadcast, Ali Kerimov promised to return to economic problems in another campaign broadcast.

He called on the electorate not to be indifferent to its fate and come to polling stations on 5th November to "vote for the people you believe". "Judge people not for their words but for their deeds," he said.

Source: Azerbaijani TV, Channel One, Baku, in Azeri 1700 gmt 02 Oct 00

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