BAKU, August 25 (RIA Novosti) – Election officials in Azerbaijan said Saturday they had registered the ex-Soviet nation’s incumbent leader Ilham Aliyev to run in the October presidential election for a third five-year term.
Aliyev succeeded his father as president of the oil-rich and tightly controlled South Caucasus nation in 2003. The opposition has accused him of pocketing immense oil revenues, cracking down on critics and abusing human rights.
A presidential candidate needs at least 40,000 signatures in order to be registered, and an election official told RIA Novosti that more than 42,000 signatures have been checked, allowing Aliyev to run in the vote.
In 2009, Azerbaijan’s constitution was amended to remove a two-term limit for presidents in a move that was harshly criticized by the opposition.
Seventeen other presidential hopefuls have submitted their registration papers, including Oscar-winning screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov, who was fielded by the National Council of Democratic Forces, a coalition of Azerbaijan’s main opposition parties.
The 74-year-old screenwriter Ibragimbekov, who holds Azeri and Russian citizenship, was named as the opposition's candidate in July. He has applied to give up his Russian passport because Azeri nationals with dual citizenship are not eligible for the presidency.
Ibragimbekov has written scripts for a string of highly successful Soviet and Russian films, including "Burnt by the Sun," a drama about Stalinist-era purges directed by Nikita Mikhalkov that won the 1994 Best Foreign Film Academy Award.
