Azerbaijan, Baku, 31 May / Trend corr. E.Babayev / The Azerbaijani opposition parties and political scientists believe that the decision made by the Azadlig bloc to boycott the upcoming presidential elections, will not affect the election process. "Most people far from policy. From this point of view the boycott will not affect whether the citizens participate or not in the elections," Sardar Jalaloglu, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (ADP), told to Trend .
On 29 May, Azadlig stated that the bloc would boycott the elections. Bloc opposes that the proposals by the opposition regarding the draft of amendments and supplements into the Election Code were not taken into consideration. Yet, the bloc considers that the increase of the deposit for candidates to AZN 300,000 and prohibition to popularize candidate via media free of charge will limit the participation possibilities of opposition in the approaching presidential elections.
According to Jalaloglu, the issues which the bloc is based are correct. "We also believe that the democratic elections are impossible in such unequal conditions. However, we are to participate in the elections in order to remove the current problems in the country," Jalaloglu said.
Arif Hajili, Leader of the Central Executive Administration of Musavat party, believes that participation in the election is the best way of struggle. "I would not like to comment the bloc's decision. I think that this decision will not affect the election process. There is no quorum in Azerbaijan to hold the elections. From this point of view, it is useless to speak about the possible influence of boycott on the election ectivity," Hajili told Trend .
Bahar Muradova, a member of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), told Trend that the boycott would not affect the election process. Muradova believes that the opposition had no enough power to exert on the public and political processes in Azerbaijan.
Rasim Musabayov, the political scientist, believes that the only way to struggle against the authorities is to participate in the elections. We can only change the situation in the country by participating in the elections. Musabayov noted that the current legislation in Azerbaijan does not allow to boycott elections.
Zardusht Alizade, a political scientist, considers that the Azerbaijani opposition has no force to boycott the upcoming presidential elections. "There is enough so-called leaders within the opposition camp and they could reduce the sense of boycott by participating in the elections," Alizade said. However, Alizade believes impossible to boycott the elections due to differences amongst the opposition parties. It is meaningless to boycott the elections. Boycott is possible only by support of the majority. The strategic mistake of the leading opposition is that they could not improve the false opposition position for this period.
According to Hikmat Hajizade, a political scientist believes that the decision by the opposition to boycott the election may be effective. There are differences amongst the opposition camp regarding the boycott.
The presidential elections in Azerbaijan will be held in October 2008.
The Azadlig bloc, which unites three opposition parties - Popular Front, Citizen and Development and Liberal, have stated tht the bloc would boycott the upcoming presidential elections. Isa Gambar- leader of Musavat party, Sardar Jalaloglu-chairman of Democratic party and Mais Gulmammadov- Chairman of Green party of Azerbaijan, have already nominated their candidature to the presidential post. On 5 May, Eldar Namazov, Head of the Public forum 'For Azerbaijan, stated that he would also nominated his candidature to the presidential post. The candidature of Ilham Aliyev will be nominated from the ruling New Azerbaijan party.
The correspondent can be contacted at:[email protected]