BAKU, June 7 (Itar-Tass) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was on Friday nominated for the third term in office. The president was nominated unanimously at the fifth congress of the ruling party Eni Azerbaijan, which he leads.
According to the Azerbaijani state news agency AzerTAj, the president delivered an extensive speech at the party congress. “The head of state spoke about the distance covered by the ruling party, its role in the life of the country and the society,” the news agency reports.
The official election campaign has not yet started. Under the country’s legislation, presidential elections are held every five years “on Wednesday of the third week of October of the last year of the presidential term determined by the Constitution,” it said. This time it falls on October 16. In line with the law, the election campaign must begin no later than 60 days before the voting day.
Ilham Aliyev, 51, was elected as president twice - in 2003 and in 2008. This will be his third election race. As a result of a referendum in March 2009, the restriction limiting the presidential term by two years for one and the same person was lifted. Thus, according to the legislation in effect, one and the same person may now be elected president an unlimited number of times. A total of 88.73 percent of the votes were cast in Aliyev’s favor at the previous election.
Aliyev has been chairman of the Eni Azerbaijan party since 2005. He replaced in that position his father, Geidar Aliyev, who led the party from 1992 to 2003. Almost 600,000 people are members of this biggest political party of the country. At the party congress on Friday, Aliyev was re-elected its chairman.
Earlier, some major public and nongovernmental organizations of the country voiced their support for Aliyev’s candidacy for president, including the Confederation of Trade Unions, the Council of Aqsaqals as well as the Azerbaijan Student Youth Organizations’ Union.