Today.Az » Politics » Ilya Bozhinov: "Situation in Azerbaijan is relatively good on the background of the world economic crisis"
16 October 2008 [13:10] - Today.Az
Day.Az Interview with Ilya Bozhinov, chairman of the society "Public initiative for free and democratic elections" (Bulgaria).
- You can be called a great specialist on elections in Azerbaijan, for you are monitoring all elections, held in our country through the past years. What did you do during these elections?
- We assisted the ELS Center of Independent Researches in organizing the exit-poll technology and technology of observation of elections.
- How would you comment on the results of elections?
- Ilham Aliyev has no rivals. His victory was overwhelming and this is natural. In fact, there was no opposition during these elections. As I have already mentioned we have come to Azerbaijan to assist in holding an exit poll but everything was quite apparent. Therefore, we were interested not with the winner but with the procedure moments: how many people will vote and for whom and the motives of voters, which are sociological but not political issues.
- What is the characteristic feature of these elections?
- This elections were calm and held normally, as there was no traditional tension. It was evident that there is no opposition among the elections participants. There was an impression that it was not an election but a referendum in Ilham Aliyev's favor. Certainly, it is not typical of Europe, especially its western part. Merely, Azerbaijan enjoys good economic growth rates, growth in people's incomes. It all weakens rivalry with Ilham Aliyev. If there was a crisis or any other problem in Azerbaijan, which I do not wish to happen to you, then the opposition would be stronger and there would have been some complications.
I hope all your elections will be as peaceful and calm, even without opposition. It proves that Azerbaijani society has no great problems. Situation in Azerbaijan is relatively good on the background of the world economic crisis.
I think this situation, which is in a way not typical for European countries, reflects the development of the Azerbaijani society and this is normal.
This means that nothing unusual has happened. On the contrary, it is all quite understandable from the sociological point of view.
- Considering these factors, the observers before elections stressed the existence of a good opportunity for these elections to become the best ones in the history of Azerbaijan. Do you think the country's authorities managed to use this chance?
- I think yes. If there is no conflict, there are no violations. As it was clear who will win the elections, no one had a stimulus to violate the law. Thus, it is possible that these elections were held without any violations. I almost received no signal about any violations.
/Day.Az/
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