"OPPOSITION COOPERATION CENTER" RELEASES ELECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000995

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/CARC AND DRL FOR WENDY SILVERMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM AJ
SUBJECT: "OPPOSITION COOPERATION CENTER" RELEASES ELECTION
ASSESSMENT AND FUTURE PLANS

Classified By: Political and Economic Counselor Robert Garverick, for r
easons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On October 16 the five opposition parties
that boycotted the presidential election held a joint press
conference and released a written statement on the conduct of
the October 15 presidential election. The heads of the
parties all stated that they considered the election not to
have been free and fair, nor democratic and transparent, due
to the numerous problems in the pre-election environment and
problems witnessed on Election Day. The parties also agreed
to continue to cooperate, and to create a unified platform
for the 2009 municipal and 2010 parliamentary elections. If
these parties can continue to cooperate and create a
forward-looking, comprehensive platform, it would be a large,
positive step forward in the development of political
discourse in Azerbaijan. END SUMMARY

JOINT OPPOSITION STATEMENT ON ELECTION PROCESS
-------------- -


2. (SBU) On October 16 at noon the five traditional
opposition parties which boycotted the election held a press
conference. These parties, including the Popular Front
Party, the Musavat Party, the Liberal Party, the For the Sake
of Azerbaijan Forum, and the Citizen and Development Party,
united during the pre-election period under the name
"Opposition Cooperation Center." The heads of the five
parties appeared together at the press conference, each
giving a similar statement and answering questions from the
press as a unit. They also released a written statement and
a list of violations witnessed by their election observers.
The conference was well attended by representatives of local
and international press. (Note: on the same day, OSCE/ODIHR,
the CIS and individuals representing the de-registered
Election Monitoring Center also presented opinions on
Azerbaijan's presidential election. These are reported
septel. End Note)


3. (SBU) The opening speech of the press conference was
given by Ali Karimli, head of the Popular Front Party. His
headline was that the election could not be considered free
and fair due to the problems with the political environment.
In addition, Karimli highlighted the fact that many citizens
were forced by employers to vote, and therefore the voter
turnout figures should be viewed with skepticism. Karimli
stated that the parties would continue to cooperate as they
prepare for the 2009 municipal and 2010 parliamentary
elections.


4. (SBU) After Karimli's opening statement, each party head
made his own statement. Both Isa Gambar (Musavat Party) and
Eldar Namazov's (For the sake of Azerbaijan Forum) statements
reflected the same themes as Karimli highlighted. In
addition, Namazov announced that the Baku municipal
authorities had denied their petition to hold a rally on
October 18 in central Baku, and the parties planned to take
this case to court. Avaz Termikhan of the Liberal Party,
however, chose to focus on his perception of lack of support
from the international community for democracy in Azerbaijan.
His example was the early congratulations given by the
Turkish government to President Ilham Aliyev on his election
victory. Karimli, however, immediately jumped in and said
that all international groups were not stating the election
was free and fair. Ali Aliyev of the Citizen and Development
Party focused his speech on the plans for the opposition
parties to continue cooperation and create a unified platform
for the upcoming elections.


5. (SBU) In questions after the prepared statements, the
opposition leaders were asked whether they would stick to
their original statement made in September that any
government elected in this election would be considered
illegitimate. In response, Gambar stated that "we live in
illegitimate times," which was a clear refusal to state
publicly that the Aliyev regime was illegitimate. Despite
this, the written statement released by the five parties
closes with a sentence that says exactly this.

COMMENT
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6. (C) The commitment by all five parties to create a
unified platform for the upcoming municipal and parliamentary
elections is a major step forward for parties that
historically have had a difficult time working together. If
they can manage to continue a high level of cooperation and
put together a comprehensive, forward-looking platform for
the next round of elections, political discourse in
Azerbaijan would be advanced. However, cohesion within this
group is hard to maintain and opposition party structures are
weak. To regain the popular support that they have lost over
the years, the opposition has much work ahead.
DERSE