Azerbaijan votes to scrap limit
Azerbaijanis voted yesterday on a proposal to scrap a two-term presidential limit that would pave the way for an indefinite extension of President Ilham Aliyev's dynastic rule.
Opposition groups in the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic called for a boycott, arguing that the vote would lead to Aliyev, whose family has ruled here for nearly four decades, being president for life.
But analysts have said there is little doubt the proposed constitutional amendments will be approved.
Aliyev, 47, won a second five-year term by a landslide last October, having taken over from his father Heydar, a wily Soviet-trained bureaucrat, in 2003.
Heydar Aliyev was a Soviet-era leader of this state on the western coast of the Caspian Sea and president for 10 years.
Comments