BAKU: Azerbaijan is voting Wednesday in a presidential election that looks certain to see strongman president Ilham Aliyev seal a third term, with critics claiming a widespread crackdown on his foes ahead of
the poll.
Despite refusing to campaign publicly, Aliyev appears a shoo-in as the
authorities exert an iron grip over most media in the tightly-controlled
ex-Soviet state.
The 51-year-old leader came to power in a 2003 vote after the death of his father Heydar, a former KGB officer and Communist-era boss who ruled the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation for the 10 years before.
Aliyev was re-elected in 2008 with 89 percent of the vote in a poll Western observers refused to call free and fair.
Now, after a disputed 2009 referendum allowed Aliyev to run again, opinion polls ahead of the vote put him on over 80 percent as he bids to extend his family's decades-long hold on power against nine other candidates.
Aliyev has skipped televised debates and rejected public rallies. Those
backing him argue that his record speaks for itself.
Fuelled by billions of petrodollars, living standards in the mainly Muslim nation of 9.5 million people have soared in the past decade, with Azerbaijan becoming an increasingly important energy supplier to Europe and NATO ally.
Despite the muted campaign-- with candidate posters restricted and little mention of the vote in the media-- official turnout is expected to be robust.
Some 5 million people are eligible to vote.