Domestic

Home page

Domestic

Gudrat Hasanguliyev: â€œAzadlig block blackmails Isa Gambar not to participate in the electionsâ€

10 June 2008 14:01 (UTC +04:00)

I hear same question from all camps that Ilham Aliyevâ€™s rating point increased by 70%. What can we hope for in such situation? I attend the election to win victory. Why should those, who have little chance, not attend the elections?â€ MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Chairman of United Azerbaijan People Front Party, presidential candidate told APA.
Hasanguliyev noted that he supported participation in the elections. He reproached his colleges, who supports boycott, in the service to authorities and prevention of awareness of society with alternative program and idea.
â€œIf refusal of my participation in the elections will serve for interest of nation, I will not attend the elections. But I know that this is not true. The opposition should attend the elections. We know that leaders of several parties who gave false promises to the nation cannot crop up again. Therefore these parties blackmail other parties participated in the elections. They think that we are participating in the election game.
These views are groundless. What will we gain if we boycott the elections? Boycotting the elections will give nothing to Azerbaijan. Therefore, we should participate in the electionsâ€, he said.
Gudrat Hasanguliyev said they would struggle for victory irrespective of their political power.
â€œWe think that there are a lot of problems and we will raise these problems during the election campaign. Some activities have already been carried out in connection with the elections in our partyâ€, he said.
Some political parties first said they would participate in the elections, but began to hesitate after the annexes and amendments to the Electoral Code.
â€œActually, the content of the Electoral Code is not the basis for holding democratic elections. The main thing is the will of political forces and government. Both the society and my colleagues should believe that very democratic law and pre-election situation do not mean that the elections will be democratic. Pre-election situation may be very democratic, but there can be interference in the process on the day of voting, in this case these elections will not be considered democratic and fair. Besides, if the opposition is dissatisfied with the Electoral Code and generally the election legislation, they should be especially active. Participation is necessary to reveal the irregularities and impede illegal points,â€ he said.
Not only to sit at home and to watch the processes from the outside. Azerbaijani opposition did it in 1988 and didnâ€™t achieve any results. The international community accepted the results of that election and after that Azerbaijan joined the number of international organizations. It shows that boycott is useless wayâ€. BAXCP chairman said they could review the decision of Supreme Council in the case of agreement with other parties on the participation in the elections. He said they could support the governmentâ€™s candidate too. â€œIf the election platform of the governmentâ€™s candidate will coincide with ours, we can support his candidacy, but there is no concrete proposal in this field. Simply I say it theoretically. A group of opposition parties is negotiating the participation in the elections. They have not made concrete decision yet. We agree with the nomination of only candidate with the democratic basis and even we consider it possible to hold primaries. The negotiations are going on the possibility of only candidate and this candidate can be me or otherâ€. Hasanguliyev made prognosis on the candidates for 2008 elections. â€œIgbal Agazadeh and Sardar Jalaloglu announced they would stand in the elections. I have no concrete idea about Isa Gambar. â€œAzadligâ€ block and concretely Ali Karimli force Isa Gambar not to go to the polls and blame him in the fulfilling the governmentâ€™s tasks. I know these accusations and therefore I donâ€™t know what decision Isa Gambar will make under this condition. Long-year notices enable me to say that Isa Gambar canâ€™t make objective and right decision in the extreme conditions. We witnessed it for many timesâ€. Hasanguliyev thinks that Ali Karimli serves the government today. â€œWe will call on many peoples to defend their rights and to be active with the joining the elections, but they will make those peoples hopeless with their blackmail campaignâ€.