The main opposition figures in Azerbaijan refuse to participate in the elections scheduled for April instead of October, and influential politician Ilgar Mamedov is in detention and might be set free only after the elections: referring to Ilham Aliyev’s decision to appoint early presidential elections, said expert of Iranian studies Artyom Tonoyan .“The “National Council” of Azerbaijan, which is an alliance of opposition parties, will also boycott the elections.
Other candidates who have declared participation are not independent political figures. Aliyev will not have a serious rival, those people have been nominated by his order”. The expert noted that the decision to conduct early elections was made quite quickly. Reasons that Aliyev’s people state is not justified: celebration, harvesting… not serious. This implies that the decision was made very quickly. There are clan problems that are not available to the public”.