The election campaign in an environment of limited access

Baku/16.09.13/Turan : From Monday, 16 September the campaigning for the presidential elections started in Azerbaijan, which will end on October 8 - a day before the start of voting .

The fight for the presidency includes 10 people : the current President , the head of the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the leader of Umid (Hope) Party, MP Igbal Aghazadeh, the self-promoted MP Zahid Oruc, Chairman of the Social Democratic Party Araz Alizadeh, the head of the party United Azerbaijan Popular Front, MP Gudret Hasanguliev , the head of the party Modern Musavat Hafiz Hajiyev, the head of the party Movement of National Revival , MP Faraj Guliyev, the representative from the opposition National Council of Democratic Forces ( NCDF) Jamil Hasanly, the leader of the Justice Party, MP Ilyas Ismailov and the leader of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan ( DPA) Sardar Mammadov (Jalaloglu ) .

The election campaign may be through the media, including on-line media , street propaganda, and meetings with voters in the indoor and outdoor areas.

The candidates will be able to conduct a free promotion in the Public Television and Radio , in the pages of state newspapers Azerbaijan, Khalg, Respublika and Bakinsky Rabochi.

Public television and radio in the week for a free agitation allotted three hours each, that is, 18 minutes for each candidate.

As for the paid campaign , political advertising is possible through 21 news agencies and on-line media, 26 newspapers and magazines, one traditional television ( ITV ) and 2 On-line television channels.

It is noteworthy that all other national and regional television channels showed no interest in the candidates campaigning for a fee.

Experts attribute this to the control of the channels by the authorities who want to minimize the alternative views and programs of the candidates.

Experts point out the low-level circulation of newspapers and limited accessibility to on-line publications , especially in rural areas , the main source of information is television .

The only channel that will accommodate paid advertising , is Public Television , but for the second campaign this TV requires 20-50 manats per second, depending on the time.

Representatives of many of the presidential candidates said they would not be able to pay so much and will limit themselves to free air .

The current president , Ilham Aliyev, though , said that he will not agitate , but all the TV channels widely publicize his "activities as head of state ."

For meetings with voters the authorities allotted open and closed areas on the peripheries of cities and regions .

For free street agitation the authorities set stands for the posting of materials of the candidates. However, these stands are small and remain in the shadow of commercial advertising. -06C-