2008 Azerbaijani presidential election

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2008 Azerbaijani presidential election
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg
  2003 15 October 2008 2013  
  Ilham Aliyev Bogdan Borusewicz Senate of Poland (cropped).JPG Igbal Aghazade (screenshot from VoA, cropped).png
Nominee Ilham Aliyev Igbal Aghazade
Party New Azerbaijan Party of Hope
Popular vote3,232,259104,279
Percentage88.73%2.86%

Map of 2008, 2013, and 2018 Azerbaijani presidential elections.png
Results of the elections by constituencies
  Ilham Aliyev

President before election

Ilham Aliyev
New Azerbaijan

Elected President

Ilham Aliyev
New Azerbaijan

Presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan on 15 October 2008. Ilham Aliyev of the New Azerbaijan Party was re-elected with 89% of the vote. The election was not free and fair.

Contents

In the lead-up to the election, OSCE highlighted election irregularities and government repression of the opposition. [1] The opposition were not allowed by the government to hold campaign rallies. [1] Students and state workers were coerced into attending pro-Aliyev rallies and were also bussed to polling places to vote for Aliyev. [1]

All major opposition parties, including Musavat, the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Azerbaijan Liberal Party, and the Azerbaijan Democratic Party boycotted the vote because of alleged poll-fixing and oppression of political opponents. [2] [1] Aside from Aliyev, none of the candidates running in the election were well-known. [1]

Background

The incumbent, Ilham Aliyev, was nominated by the New Azerbaijan Party for a second term on 3 August 2008. Musavat, the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, the Azerbaijan Liberal Party, the Citizen and Progress Party, and the Azerbaijan Democratic Party announced their boycott of the election due to unfair conditions. [3] In response, an aide to Aliyev claimed that the opposition withdrew because it "knew that President Aliyev would win the elections with a majority." [4] A total of seven candidates filed to run in the election. [5] Each of the candidates had to collect 40,000 support signatures. [6]

Campaigning officially began in mid-September. The candidates were limited to a four-week campaigning period by law. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, IRFS and RSF, the media (state-owned and private) showed bias in favor of Aliyev's candidacy. [5]

Conduct

The election was observed by more than 500 international observers, mostly from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). [7] The OSCE said that there was progress in the elections compared to past ones, however it did not meet international standards, [8] because of the lack of competition to incumbent Ilham Aliyev. [9] The NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, declared "He welcomes reports from the international election observers from OSCE, Council of Europe and the European Parliament indicating progress in the conduct of Azerbaijan’s presidential elections on 15 October 2008. Azerbaijan should build on this achievement and address the remaining shortcomings that were noted." [10]

Avez Temirhan of the election-boycotting Azerbaijan Liberal Party said, "This leadership is not legitimate and its election does not reflect the will of the people." [11]

Results

A total of seven candidates registered with the Central Election Commission. [12]

The incumbent, Ilham Aliyev, won the election with over 88% of the vote, and Igbal Aghazade came in second with 2.86%. Voter turnout was 75.1%. Fuad Aliyev and Hafiz Hajiev, as in 2003, received fewer votes than supporting signatures. [13] Eight polling places' votes were invalidated. [14]

CandidatePartyVotes%
Ilham Aliyev New Azerbaijan Party 3,232,25988.73
Igbal Aghazade Party of Hope 104,2792.86
Fazil Mustafa Great Order Party 89,9852.47
Gudrat Hasanguliyev Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party 83,0372.28
Gulamhuseyn AlibayliIndependent81,1202.23
Fuad AliyevLiberal-Democrat28,4230.78
Hafiz Hajiyev Modern Equality Party 23,7710.65
Total3,642,874100.00
Valid votes3,642,87498.44
Invalid/blank votes57,7601.56
Total votes3,700,634100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,927,56175.10
Source: CEC

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References

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  10. "NATO SECRETARY GENERAL CALLS ON AZERBAIJAN'S AUTHORITIES TO CORRECT SHORTCOMINGS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN AZERBAIJAN". 2008-10-17. Archived from the original on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
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