AZERBAIJAN….

Leaders of oil-rich Azerbaijan’s opposition parties are warning that they may boycott the upcoming presidential election unless the electoral legislation is changed. Current law requires candidates to submit nominating petitions but prohibits citizens from signing more than one petition. President Haidar Aliev has plenty of potential opponents, and the fear is that the current system will prevent any one of them from securing enough valid signatures. Opponents also complain that the election commission that oversees the process is the president’s tool. Half its members are presidential appointees, and the rest are picked by the parliament he controls. President Aliev is ex-Communist, ex-KGB, ex-member of the politburo of the USSR, ex-boss of Soviet Azerbaijan. Despite his age – he is 75 – he plans to serve another term.