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Azerbaijan's Ruling Party Claims Lead in Vote
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"If the OSCE doesn't clearly condemn the violations, it will be the death of democracy in Azerbaijan," Kerimli said in an interview Sunday night.
The government argued that the opposition was trying to disguise its weakness by raising the specter of widespread fraud.
"The campaign was successful," Aliyev said after casting his vote Sunday in a central Baku school. "Equal measures were provided for all the candidates and, in general, the whole election process was smooth and peaceful."
In at least one key constituency in Baku, however, there was chaos Sunday night. Election officials in 26 of 28 polling stations aborted the count after Kerimli appeared set to win. The officials fled with ballots, and police forced out observers, according to representatives for independent candidates and the opposition coalition.
Journalists found nearly 100 ballots marked for Kerimli abandoned in School 104, a polling place in the district. In School 278, members of the elections commission seized the ballots and locked themselves in a room as police asked observers and journalists to leave the building. Later, police formed a ring around the district's central election office.
"Police came in and ordered the count to stop," said Faig Ahmadov, an observer for an independent candidate in the district.
The chairman of the electoral district, Faramaz Abbasov, said after midnight Sunday that he had received only two signed result sheets from 28 polling stations, which prevented him from declaring a winner.
Nationwide, just under 47 percent of the country's 4.7 million registered voters cast ballots, election officials said.
"Even if only 10 percent of the oil money is spent on the people, our lives will improve," Azamat Mamishov, 46, said after casting his ballot for an independent candidate in a neighborhood on the edge of Baku. Mamishov's modest hopes reveal the deep cynicism here about the level of corruption in the country; throughout the campaign, both the ruling party and the opposition have stressed their commitment to using the coming bonanza wisely.
Some voters on Sunday defended Aliyev as working to transform the country to everyone's benefit. "The president is a good man," said Vagif Asadov, 42, who described himself as a small entrepreneur. "He will work for us."
