2003 Azerbaijani presidential election
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Azerbaijan portal |
Presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan on 15 October 2003. As expected, Ilham Aliyev, son of the outgoing president, Heydar Aliyev, was officially elected with an overwhelming majority in a vote international observers deemed to be not to be free or fair.[1][2]
The election was characterized by ballot stuffing and manipulated voter lists. The final vote tabulation was kept from OSCE/ODIHR monitors, which meant that they could not judge the accuracy of the results.[3] Police arrested members of electoral commissions who refused to sign paperwork on vote counts from their precincts.[3] The opposition claimed that Gambar had won the election.[3] The opposition protested against the election results, with the Aliyev regime arresting hundreds, including Gambar.[4]
Conduct
Human Rights Watch stated that the "election campaign... from the beginning was heavily manipulated by the government to favor Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev, son of President Heydar Aliyev. The government ensured that election commissions would be stacked to favor Aliyev, and banned nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from monitoring the vote. As the election drew nearer, government officials openly sided with Ilham Aliyev, obstructed opposition rallies, and sought to limit participation in them. Police have beaten and arbitrarily detained hundreds of opposition activists, including a 73-year-old woman."[1]
The
Results
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Modern Equality Party | 9,990 | 0.40 | ||
Total | 2,467,960 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 2,467,960 | 88.39 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 324,037 | 11.61 | ||
Total votes | 2,791,997 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 4,442,338 | 62.85 | ||
Source: IFES |
References
- ^ a b "Azerbaijan: Presidential Elections 2003 – Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper" (PDF). Human Rights Watch. 2003-10-13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
- ^ a b "The Azerbaijan 'Elections' – October 15, 2003". Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe. 2020-10-21. Archived from the original on 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-231-70456-4.
- ISBN 978-1-107-07351-7.