Congratulations! We made it to Obama's speech (despite the stutter)

Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative Forum, President Obama named some of the most notorious countries for their crackdown on free speech and media. 

Azerbaijan too made that list, despite President Obama's stutter. So what?! Apparently, others [RU] in Azerbaijan took it as their responsibility to poke fun at this incident. Which for some if not many, probably went unnoticed. 

But all these jokes and what not are besides the actual point - Azerbaijani government cracks down on independent non-governmental organizations, individuals and journalists on an on-going basis. And no matter what our beloved government officials say to our media (none of which is free by the way) its the opposite. In fact, its like a game - whatever they say, always think the opposite. So if you hear somewhere our officials say we have freedom of speech guaranteed and rule of law provided, just think the opposite times a 100 because in reality the situation is always much worse. 

I wish I was a superhero

Or at least had the powers of one. As I stood there at the local precinct where I voted myself there were many moments where I wished I had some of these powers. Stuffed ballot boxes (and so many of them); carousel voting (so much of this too); and those faces of local so- called "observers". But I don't have the super powers. Nor did I manage to change anything. I just argued with CEC representatives, made them recount votes and made sure the protocols were signed properly. At least for the time I was at the precinct. Maybe they changed everything after I left. 

I saw this woman twice for instance today at the same polling station. 

And so after a long day I am sitting home, reading articles and tweets and comments and can't help myself but wonder- what will happen to my country? Aliyev in his third term (which he added himself by changing the constitution) will put more people behind bars, choke whoever left of advocates and defenders and steel more. 

Surely there wasn't much to expect from these elections- its results were rigged from the very beginning. Everyone knew about this and all that was left was for independent observers and journalists to do what they do best- advocate for justice and truth. Did we succeed? Perhaps. There were a lot of videos, updates, and proof of violation. Will any of these help to change the results? Probably not. 

We are stuck for yet another term of a dictator whose cronies are rich and filthy and do anything it takes to keep the country and its people at its knees. No one cares about the future of Azerbaijan as much as a handful of people who want to see a real change. But with these elections rigged, rights violated, there is even less of a chance to see that change. 

But we have to continue our fight for democracy and keep on believing. Margaret Mead once said "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have".

p.s.: Thank you all for following the election today, for all your support, retweets, hits, and comments!