Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
The ruling New Azerbaijan Party is sure to win the forthcoming parliamentary election, Vladimir Yevseyev, the director of the Russian Public Policy Research Center, said.
"There is no real opposition in Azerbaijan," he said in an interview with Trend. "It is quite marginalized. There is no real alternative to the ruling party. And I do not think it is necessary to artificially create it. The artificial opposition is a pocket opposition. It is inefficient."
"If the Turkish Justice and Development Party loses its votes and gain some 35 percent in the next election, the Azerbaijani ruling party does not have such problems," the expert said.
"At least 80 percent of the population will vote for the ruling party in the parliamentary election," he said. "At the same time, the voter turnout is important."
"One can gain astronomical figures at a low turnout, but if the turnout is low, it won't reflect the opinion of the whole population," he said. "So now it is important to raise the question of increasing the turnout. Turnout is the confirmation of the legitimacy of the authorities."
The expert said that in this sense it is important how active a large Azerbaijani diaspora living abroad, particularly in Russia, will vote. However, in his opinion, Azerbaijani citizens will vote for the ruling party, as Russia doesn't allow on its territory any work with the Azerbaijani diaspora directed against the policy of President Ilham Aliyev.
Yevseyev also noted that some economic problems existing in Azerbaijan won't affect the results of the election, as they are caused by the low price of oil and quite clear. No opposition forces will be able to offer an alternative solution.
Azerbaijan will hold the parliamentary election Nov. 1.
Edited by CN
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