But for those of us who actually witnessed the process, the transparency of the voting and the core reason for Aliyev’s unprecedented victory were obvious, and had nothing to do with either voter manipulation or polling irregularities
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — With an entirely new Milli Mejlis (parliamentary general assembly) set to take office next month, Azerbaijan is bracing for a head-to-toe makeover of its social and political system, in keeping with a master plan laid out late last year by President Ilham Aliyev. And with most of the newly elected legislators fresh out of
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — Freezing cold winds and intermittent snow did not deter Azerbaijani voters from turning out Sunday, Feb. 9, to cast ballots in a nationwide snap parliamentary election. With 883 international observers from 58 countries — along with 77,790 local observers — inspecting and scrutinizing virtual every step of the voting process, Azerbaijanis turned out in
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — When you have a president who has been in power for more than 16 straight years (in this case, Ilham Aliyev), following in the footsteps of his father (Heydar Aliyev), who held the very same post for the 10 years immediately prior to that, it is easy to assume (or suggest) that your head
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