20,000 Pack Azerbaijani Square, Call for Government to Resign

Waving orange flags and calling for the government’s resignation, about 20,000 protesters rallied in Azerbaijan’s capital Sunday as the opposition kept up pressure to overturn the results of a disputed parliamentary election.

The rally, watched over by hundreds of riot police, ended without violence. But opposition leaders said further protests would be held here in the capital and across the country in the coming weeks.

Isa Gambar, a leader of the newly formed Democratic Front, which unites virtually all opposition forces in this former Soviet state, called on President Ilham Aliyev to negotiate as the only way out of the confrontation over opposition charges of fraud in the Nov. 6 balloting.

Gambar insisted that the solution should be to repeat the elections. But some analysts say the opposition’s goal is to overturn the official results in as many districts as possible, boosting the number of critical voices in parliament and creating more democratic conditions for presidential balloting in 2008.

The United States and Europe are particularly concerned to see stability and democracy in Azerbaijan because it is a predominantly Muslim but basically secular and pro-Western country that is of growing importance as a source of oil. It is the starting point for a nearly completed $3.4-billion pipeline that will deliver oil from the Caspian Sea region to a Mediterranean port.

Some government critics warn that if democratic parties in Azerbaijan are denied opportunities for normal development, currently weak radical Islamic forces could gain strength and become the main opposition.

The Central Election Commission has admitted irregularities in four of the 125 parliamentary districts, agreeing to new balloting in three of them and awarding victory in the fourth to Ali Kerimli, another key opposition leader. Authorities have said results could be revised in as many as 20 districts.

Even if many of those seats went to the opposition, the ruling party and its allies would retain firm control of parliament. Preliminary results show the ruling New Azerbaijan Party winning 62 seats, opposition parties taking 11, and pro-government minor party candidates or independents aligned with the ruling party taking almost all of the remaining 52.

A Western observation mission led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe sharply criticized balloting for the unicameral parliament, reporting last week that its monitors had judged the vote-counting process “bad” or “very bad” in 43% of the polling places observed.

“They stole our vote. Our rights were violated. That’s why I came here,” said Settar Mammadov, 69, a pensioner at the Sunday demonstration in Victory Square. “The government is annulling results in some districts to pretend that they didn’t falsify the whole election. We’re hoping for a new election with less falsification.”

The crowd periodically erupted in shouts of “Resign! Resign!” and “Tents to the square!” a suggestion that protesters should take over the plaza and remain there until their demands are met. That would follow the example set by last year’s Orange Revolution in Ukraine, when protesters camped in downtown Kiev until a repeat election brought the opposition to power.

“We are ready to die for our nation,” said Zaur Musayev, 23, an unemployed college graduate. “We are not afraid of the police. We are ready to stay here and let the police kill us, but we will not go.”

Some in the crowd, however, said victory appeared to be out of reach.

“We have no hope, but we’ll try,” said Irada Jafarova, 45, a woman working for a foreign firm in Baku. “We should not allow this government to rule our children.”

Leaders on the podium put much of their effort into encouraging the protests to grow. Gambar asked everyone present to bring two more people to the next rally, tentatively set for Friday. He promised that he would do the same.

“There is a lot of responsibility on you,” Kerimli, the other opposition leader, told the crowd. “Feel that responsibility. Don’t be disappointed. Don’t get tired. We will not stop.”

Near the end of the two hours granted by city authorities for the authorized rally, thousands of people in the crowd began sitting down, in an indication of willingness to remain in the square in defiance of the nearby police.

“I see that people are sitting,” Kerimli said. “Thank you. Love to you.”

The leaders, however, did not call for people to stay, and as they walked away from the podium, the crowd swiftly dispersed.

Police did not even wait for stragglers to move on before they too jogged away in disciplined formation.