Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. S. Ilhamgizi / The Azerbaijani Umid Party can run alongside the Musavat Party in the upcoming presidential election if Musavat's head, Isa Gambar, supports the candidature of Umid's Chairman, Igbal Agazadeh.
The next presidential elections in Azerbaijan will be held on 15 October 2008. Umid and Musavat parties both confirmed their participation in the upcoming presidential elections. Both parties will nominate their candidates.
Gambar also ran as a candidate during the 2003 presidential elections. According to official results, Gambar took second place among the eight candidates for the presidential post. Agazadeh will put forward his candidacy for presidential for the first time. During the 2003 presidential elections, Umid supported the candidacy of Gambar. Agazadeh said he would not support the candidacy of any other candidates during the upcoming 2008 presidential election.
"Our support to Gambar will not give anything to the Azerbaijani people. However, if Gambar supports my candidacy, the Azerbaijani people will win. Therefore, we can perform together with Musavat once Gambar supports my candidature for the upcoming presidential elections," Agazadeh said.
Gambar would not make any concession to Agazadeh. Arif Hajili, the head of the Central Executive Administration of Musavat, said Aghazadeh's statement cannot be taken seriously.
The Umid Party was founded in 1993. In 2002, the Civil Unity Party joined Umid. MP Igbal Agazadeh is the Chairman of the party.
The opposition Musavat party was founded at the beginning of 1992. Its leader, Isa Gambar, was the speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament from 1992 to1993. In 2003, he was a candidate for the presidency. The Musavat Party has five representatives in Parliament.