President Aliyev of Azerbaijan recently stated how much he wishes there was a viable opposition at the polls to give him some competition. Of course, that might actually happen if the government didn’t suppress it.

BAKU, March 27 (AFP) – Azerbaijan’s ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan late Saturday elected the country’s President Ilham Aliyev as its leader.

Aliyev, who thus succeeded his father Heidar in the post, called on his party to prepare for the November elections even while deploring the lack of opposition capable of giving a good fight at the polls.

“The opposition’s position now is pathetic, its presence cannot be felt on the country’s political scene,” Aliyev said, adding that “our party has no rivals, and I am sorry for that.”

Aliyev was the sole candidate for the party’s top post and was voted in unanimously.

Tensions between the authorities and the opposition have been heating up ahead of the parliamentary vote in November.

Western governments as well as alienated Azeri opposition politicians have signaled that there is widespread discontent over Aliyev’s weak commitment to democratic principles and human rights in Azerbaijan.

I think the opposition will give him a run for his money this time, though. He recently pardoned 53 political prisoners, journalists, and activists who are vowing to beat him. You may remember back in the fall of 2003 when protests broke out over the election, though without result, certainly point to Azeri discontent.

I’ve also reported on how the government has been implicated with connection to a huge crime ring. Some top ministry officials were just fired over it. That’s a good sign, but I bet the corruption is much deeper than that.

BAKU, March 25 (AFP) – A number of top interior ministry officers were fired in Azerbaijan after investigation of a kidnapping ring that implicated several senior government officials.

Chief of Azerbaijan’s criminal investigation service General Zakir Nasirov and his deputy Colonel Asif Gadzhiyev, head of drug fighting agency Niyazi Khalilov were among those fired, the ministry’s press service said late Thursday.

Deputy Interior Minister Zakhid Dunyamaliyev resigned, the press service added.

The security ministry said the ring, which had been discovered earlier this month, had been behind a number of high profile kidnappings, including that of a prosecutor and the sons of a casino owner, a top state oil company executive, a store owner, a restaurant owner and the head of an insurance company.

The ministry also implicated them in contract assassinations of the vice president of Azerbaijan’s football federation, a top ranking prosecutor and a drug control officer.

Given this, the government is certainly an even bigger suspect in the murder of main opposition journalist Elmar Huseynov. So far, there haven’t been any results announced on this investigation.