BAKU : Ballots and Battles

Azerbaijan goes to the polls Sunday after a year of political uncertainty that has paralyzed this fertile, oil-rich Caucasian republic and brought on defeats by Armenian forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

After a popular uprising that ousted the former Communist boss, President Ayaz Mutalibov, on May 15, the favorite to win the election is Abulfez Elchibey, 54, a wiry-haired former university lecturer who leads the nationalist Popular Front. Elchibey’s strongest challenger will be the front’s militia leader, Etibar Mamedov.

Whoever wins will face an uphill task in running a country with few democratic traditions and where city halls and factories are still firmly in the hands of the ex-Communist elite.