The Central Electoral Commission issued a
statement on 24 August dismissing three opposition party
leaders' allegations against long-time commission chairman
Djafar Aliev as slander, Turan reported. Etibar Mamedov,
Nizami Suleimanov and Ashraf Mehtiev, all of whom
unsuccessfully contended the October 1998 presidential
election, claimed that Veliev said in an interview with the
independent ANS TV station that 12-15 percent of the ballots
cast in that poll were falsified. They demanded the opening
of criminal proceedings against Veliev. The 24 August
statement denied that Veliev had given an interview to ANS or
made any such a comment on the elections. All three defeated
candidates dispute the official outcome of the poll, in which
Aliev was reelected for a second term with 76 percent (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 15 October 1998). LF