Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr I. Alizadeh / Azadlyg bloc's calls to boycott the presidential elections of 2008 seem to be blackmail, the co-chairman of the left-wing opposition Social Democratic Party, Araz Alizadeh, reported in Baku on 28 August. According to Alizadeh, the right-wing opposition never keeps its word.
Disagreements regarding participation in the upcoming presidential elections have arisen among the opposition. The parties represented in the Azadlyg bloc, Azerbaijan's leading political union, which are the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Citizens & Development Party and the National Unity Movement, refuse to participate in the elections unless election legislation is changed and election committees are formed on a parity basis with participation of authorities and the opposition. The leader of the Open Society Party, former Speaker of Azerbaijani Parliament, Rasul Guliyev, who emigrated to the United Sates, sticks to the same position.
The Musavat, the National Independence Party, the Social Democratic Party and other parties take another viewpoint. They believe participation in the elections is necessary.
Alizadeh mentioned the events of 2000, when 23 parties signed an agreement to boycott the elections if changes were not made to the Election Code and in the composition of election committees. Right-wing opposition broke the agreement and took part in the elections, he noted.
Alizadeh said that he did not consider Azadlyg bloc's calls to boycott presidential elections to be sincere. In his opinion, Azadlyg will take part in the approaching elections.
"The Azerbaijan Social Democratic Party have decided to participate in all elections, including the presidential elections of 2008," he said
Left-wing opposition Azerbaijan Social Democratic Party was founded in 1991. Another co-chairman of the party, Azerbaijan's ex-president Ayaz Mutallibov emigrated to Moscow.