Santa had a detour

Yea, looks like Azerbaijan wasn't on Santa's radar and thats why he was a day late. Or maybe Azerbaijani officials bribed sacred Santa too. Who knows... 

But surely, someone wished it very hard for the country's remaining independent outlet to go quiet. And it happened. 

This morning, Azadliq Radio (Radio Liberty Azerbaijan Service) had special guests. It wasn't Santa, nor was Santa's cute little helpers. It was the state prosecutor office staff. Armed with their own "witnesses" and guess what? They weren't dressed up either nor did they come bearing presents and season's greetings. 

So they came in, gathered Radio staff all in one room, cut the phone lines and internet connection and began the raid. They even broke into the Radio's safe. Yea! I guess they didn't get many presents so they decided to raid for their own.

Documents, equipment, memory cards, and the company seal were confiscated. 

Azadliq Radio was under attack for a while now. First its radio channels were blocked from broadcasting on local radio waves. Then its journalists were persecuted in various forms. 

On December 3rd, the country's chief of staff claimed the radio was spreading lies. Then two days later, the authorities arrested the radio's journalists and the host of the radio show Khadija Ismayil, and last but not least they have raided the office. 

Oh and to make things a tat bit more fun, on December 23rd, the Azerbaijan parliament happily adopted amendments to the country's media law giving the local courts carte blanche in shutting down media outlets the government does not like.

Happy New Year folks!

Votes have been casted, numbers counted, and the results?

There is one thing to say, the voting for constitutional amendments were full of surprises! Well, according to the Central Electoral Commission about 90% of voters supported the amendments (surprise!) And the highest number of votes (91.87%)went of course for the amendment on the lifting the restriction on electing one person president for more than two times (double surprise!). 

The head of the Central Electoral Commission, Mazahir Panahov, further concludes that although there were some "minor" violations, overall the voting process went smooth (surprise!). Lets see how smooth things really were:

- According to Radio Liberty reports from yesterday on the voting process, a number of violations were in place: anything from not letting journalists into the polling stations to ballot stuffing and multiple voting. 

- According to the chairman of the Musavat Party, Isa Qambar, the commission didn't even meet the minimum required turnout of 25% and that the results were rigged. Less than 15% of voters showed up says Mr. Qambar. The accusations of ballot rigging were dismissed by Ali Ahmadov, deputy chairman of Yeni Azerbaijan Party (surprise again!) in the following statement: 

"They make the same kind of statements at every election. However, they always fail to present concrete facts" 

So, what do we have as a result: based on either rigged or actual numbers, the amendments passed and are deemed valid. Congratulations everyone, now we have an eternal president! Yet, I am being told to be patient and that change will come eventually! I am patient (or at least trying to) my friends, but there are limits to everything, don't you think?