Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Vote Set To Trigger Protests

A voter and his son at a Baku polling station yesterday (epa)

7 November 2005 -- Official results suggest that Azerbaijan's ruling party will emerge victorious from yesterday's parliamentary elections, but the main opposition bloc has alleged massive fraud and vowed to launch protests to annul the results.

TEXT SIZE - +

November 07, 2005

Electoral authorities reported today that with 85 percent of votes counted, the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan (New Azerbaijan) party was on track to take about half of the seats in the 125-member Milli Majlis.

The main opposition coalition, Azadliq (Freedom), appeared set to win as few as five seats, according to the results, with independent candidates and minor parties, who could include allies of the ruling party, taking the rest.

Opposition leaders yesterday charged that the elections were massively falsified and that the results did not reflect the will of the people. Opposition leaders said they will launch peaceful protests tomorrow against the vote.

Authorities have denied there were any major irregularities that could have affected the outcome of the vote.

The Organization For Security And Cooperation In Europe (OSCE), which sent hundreds of observers to monitor the poll, is due to give its assessment of the vote this afternoon.

Voter turnout was nearly 47 percent, according to election officials.

(Reuters/AFP/AP)

President Serzh Sarkisian has promised fair elections

Prospect Of Vote-Rigging Overshadows Upcoming Armenian Parliamentary Election

The Armenian parliamentary elections due in May will not simply be a struggle between rival political parties with diverging priorities and platforms. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Former KGB head Leonid Tibilov is a presidential hopeful.

Repeat South Ossetian Election Campaign Gathers Momentum

The run-up to the repeat election on March 24 for a new de facto president of Georgia's breakaway Republic of South Ossetia bears an uncanny resemblance to last November's election campaign. More