Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is a man of 2005 in Azerbaijan. 70.3% of the inquired voted in favor of a candidacy of the President, Rizvan Abbasov, Director of the Monitoring Center Ray (Opinion), told a news conference on Thursday on the results of sociological inquiry on 2005.
“The respondents were provided with an opportunity of selection among prominent world politicians and public figures. Nevertheless, absolute majority of the inquired supported the candidacy of President Ilham Aliyev,” Abbasov said. Russian President Vladimir Putin was the second (19.7 %) in the list, while Mehriban Aliyev, the Azerbaijani First Lady, with 17.1% ranked the third. She is followed by Georgian President Mikhael Saakashvili (11.3%), US President George Bush (5.7 %), British Premier Tony Blair (4.1 %), the head-of-staff of the President’s Executive Power, Ramiz Mehdiyev (3.6 %).
Moreover, 85.2 % of respondents voiced their satisfaction with the activities of the Azerbaijani President in 2005. In reply to question on the reasons for hopes in the improvement of the situation in Azerbaijan in 2006, 37.7 % indicated вЂ�the improvement of socio-economic situation’, 37.1 % вЂ" вЂ�the President’s activities’.
The 6 November parliamentary elections of 2005 were regarded as event of the year, as 47.5 % of respondents consider. Besides, 16% of the inquired preferred the commissioning of the Azerbaijani section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main oil pipeline, 9.5% - assassination of a journalist, Elmar Huseynov. Concerning the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan 24.2% of respondents noted that they were held вЂ�successfully’, 33.9 % вЂ" вЂ�generally successful’, 11.3 % - вЂ�generally bad’, 10 % - вЂ�very bad’, while 20.6% find difficulty to answer.
The forecasts for 2006 were as follows: 44.2% of respondents hope 2006 will be successful, 19.9 % - �not bad’. 12.6 % suppose as compared to previous years 2006 will be positive, while 6.7% expect no changes.
The inquiry held from 19 to 23 December 2005 in 39 settlements of Azerbaijan, including Baku and Sumgayit, covered 1205 citizens of the country aged above 18.