Reports: Opposition, Police Clash on Azerbaijan Campaign Trail

Tensions are mounting in the run-up to Azerbaijan's November parliamentary elections, with increasingly frequent clashes reported between police and opposition groups and media. The conflict comes despite ongoing pressure from European organizations and the United States for a free and fair poll.

On August 1, members of the tripartite opposition Azadlig bloc, including Khalig Bahadir, an Azadlig candidate for parliament, claimed that they were beaten and up to 37 people arrested by police, after activists in the central Azerbaijani town of Sabirabad decided on a different location for a previously authorized demonstration, ANS television reported. Officials have denied the charges.

Hasan Karimov, deputy chair of the Popular Front Party, a member of the Azadlig bloc, told reporters that a similar clash in the western district of Tovuz had resulted in the arrest of 19 opposition activists, the news agency Assa Irada reported. A protest in the southern district of Lankaran was stopped when police suggested participants move the event seven kilometers away from the district center, Karimov said.

Opposition members in Ganja, Azerbaijan's second largest city, also report similar pressure being brought to bear. After a July 1 meeting with US Ambassador Reno Harnish, Jahangir Amirkhanly, director of the opposition Musvat Party's Ganja branch, claims that he was taken to the police station and threatened by the chief of police. "He warned me not to complain [about the city's problems] when Andreas Gross and Andreas Herkel, co-rapporteurs of the PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] Monitoring Committee, will visit the city [on July 8]," Amirkhanly told EurasiaNet.

In the autonomous exclave of Nakhchivan, Malahat Nasibova, head of the Election Resource Center, a non-governmental organization, told EurasiaNet that police routinely arrest opposition activists and intervene in the work of local election commissions. Among the recent arrests was the local representative of the Popular Front Party, Sahib Huseynov, Nasibova charged. "They just catch activists and kick them out of the country to Turkey without documents and money. . . Nothing has changed in Nakhchivan since the last elections."

Internal Ministry spokesperson Ekhsan Zahidov has denied all media reports about police harassing opposition activists, Azadlig newspaper recently reported.

Opposition parties are much stronger and more tightly united than during the 2000 parliamentary election campaign when the biggest opposition party, the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), was split into three parts. This time, three opposition parties – the PFPA, Musavat and Democratic Party – will contend for seats as a single bloc, called Azadlig, and field a common list of candidates for each constituency.

Azadlig will also work with another opposition alliance YeS, a grouping of individuals and organizations largely seen as more moderate than Azadlig, to avoid competing candidates in constituencies. Although no official agreement yet exists, Musavat Party leader Isa Gambar stated in a July 14 press conference that "our aim is to avoid any competition between opposition parties and blocs." YeS has already shared their list of candidates with PFPA leader Ali Kerimli, YeS founder Eldar Namazov told EurasiaNet.

By contrast, the government is showing some sign of division. Local media report that several lists of potential future members of parliament have been compiled by various government figures, including presidential administration chief Ramiz Mekhdiyev, Economic Development Minister Farhad Aliyev and Azerbaijani Customs Chairman Kamalledin Heydarov, among others.

Joining the contenders are many so-called "non-partisan professionals," a new phenomenon in Azerbaijan politics, who are loosely grouped in units referred to as "young leaders" or "democratic reformers." These candidates could dilute votes for both the government and the opposition, according to Alasgar Mammadly, political expert and member of the Public Watchdog Group, an organization that monitors implementation of Azerbaijani commitments to international organizations.

"Most of them are mid-level professionals from different fields with big ambitions," Mammadly said. "Though they have not introduced any . . . program goals so far, these candidates may pose serious competition for both the opposition and pro-government candidates."

Mammadly projected that these non-partisan candidates, if elected, would not act as a united group opposing government initiatives – a factor that could facilitate their future cooperation with the government.

A simplified registration procedure means that an unprecedented number of candidates could take part in the race. To register as a candidate, individuals must collect 450 voter signatures from the relevant constituency or pay $2,460 (about 11,543.5 manats) as a deposit. As of August 3, 3, 809 people had registered as candidates, according to the Central Election Commission.

Nonetheless, obstacles remain. Some 2 million people in Azerbaijan have no documentation to prove their citizenship, meaning that, according to existing legislation, they will not be allowed to vote, said Public Watchdog Group's Mammadly. "They are mostly old and poor people, so they are potentially a