Azerbaijani presidential election, 2003

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Azerbaijan
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Azerbaijan

President İlham Aliyev Prime Minister Artur Rasizade National Assembly Political parties Elections Subdivisions Human Rights in Azerbaijan Foreign relations See also: Politics of Nagorno Karabakh
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A presidential election was held in Azerbaijan on October 15, 2003. As expected, Ilham Aliyev, son of the outgoing president, Heydar Aliyev, was easily elected in an election which international observers held not to be free or fair.

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Summary of the 15 October 2003 Azerbaijan presidential **election results**
Candidates and nominating parties	Votes	%
İlham Aliyev — New Azerbaijan Party (Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası)	2,438,787	76.8
İsa Qambar — Equality Party (Müsavat Partiyası)	372,385	14.0
Lalə Şövket Hacıyeva — National Unity (Milli Birlik)	100,558	3.6
Etibar Mammadov — Azerbaijan National Independence Party (Azərbaycan Milli İstiqlal Partiyası)	62,401	2.9
İlyas İsmayılov — Justice Party (Ədalət Partiyası)	24,926	1.0
Sabir Rüstamxanlı — Civic Solidarity Party (Vətəndaş Həmrəyliyi Partiyası)	23,730	0.8
Qüdrat Hasanquliyev — Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (Azərbaycan Xalq Cəbhəsi Partiyası)	13,624	0.5
Hafiz Hacıyev — Modern Equality Party (Müasir Müsavat Partiyası)	9,990	0.3
Total (turnout 71.5 %)	3,046,401
Source: Central Election Commission

Human Rights Watch commented on these elections: "Human Rights Watch research found that the government has heavily intervened in the campaigning process in favor of Prime Minister Ilham Aliev, son of current President Heidar Aliev. The government has stacked the Central Election Commission and local election commission with its supporters, and banned local non-governmental organizations from monitoring the vote. As the elections draw nearer, government officials have openly sided with the campaign of Ilham Aliev, constantly obstructing opposition rallies and attempting to limit public participation in opposition events. In some cases, local officials have closed all the roads into town during opposition rallies, or have extended working and school hours - on one occasion, even declaring a Sunday work day - to prevent participation in opposition rallies." (source: HTML format)