World

Azerbaijan Vote Questioned

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 12, 1998 / 12:28 PM EDT / CBS

International organizations which monitored Sunday's election in Azerbaijan said on Monday that the voting process was not up to international standards.

"The overall election process did not comply with international standards," the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe said in a joint statement issued to reporters.

President Heydar Aliyev's aides said on Monday that the 75-year-old veteran leader had won about 75 percent of votes cast in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state, against 11 percent for his closest challenger, Etibar Mamedov.

Aliyev needed a two-thirds majority to avoid a runoff.

Soon after the election, Mamedov accused Aliyev of cheating and predicted a runoff. The Central Elections Commission has several more days to issue official results.

President Aliyev's aides said the numbers predicting the incumbent's victory had been compiled by his representatives in the country's more than 4,000 polling stations.

"I am satisfied with the results. This is the first time that presidential elections in Azerbaijan have proceeded on a democratic level, and show the whole world that Azerbaijan is on the road of democratic development," Aliyev said."I am happy that the people, the voters, have again expressed their trust in me and chosen me as president."

But Mamedov claimed a string of irregularities had marred voting and said there would be a runoff.

"No matter how many votes they add to Aliyev's total, a second round is going to be necessary," he told a news conference. "If there isn't a second round, this will be a glaring example of a lack of democracy."

Mamedov said that police had threatened voters in some areas, that in other places Aliyev forces had kicked his poll observers out of polling stations, and that there were instances of ballot box stuffing.

Mamedov said that in some places, electoral boards controlled by Aliyev were still busy doctoring the vote totals, and that this was the reason why the Central Elections Commission was delaying reporting the results.

He also pointed to suspiciously high turnout figures in some areas. For example, the Central Elections Commission first reported that 100.8 percent of refugees from the city of Agdam, captured by ethnic Armenian forces during fighting in 1994, had cast ballots.

Mamedov, 43, who played a major role in helping lead Azerbaijan to independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, said he would not recognize Aliyev as president without a runoff and vowed to take his case to the Constitutional Court.

The focus of a state personality cult, Aliyev ran on the accomplishments of bringing the Caspian state stability and having done deals worth $40 billion to develop oil reserves.

The much-trumpeted contracts have yet to begin to raise low living standards among most Azeris, which plummeted along with the Soviet collapse. Western oil executives in the contry generally see Aliyev as a factor of stability and continuity.

Site of what has been called the first oil rush of the 21st century, Azerbaijan has taken on increased prominence on the world stage in recent years.

Aliyev has welcomed investment from Western oil companies as a bulwark against perceived threats posed by Armenia, Iran, and Russia.