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Will revolution come to Azerbaijan?

The government of President Ilham Aliyev, in a closely watched campaign, promised a free and fair vote on Sunday. For Aliyev, who followed his father to power in 2003, these elections were a chance to gain international legitimacy. But just one day after the last ballot was cast in Azerbaijan`s parliamentary elections, opposition parties, backed by foreign observers, were calling the vote invalid and threatening massive street rallies to force a replay of the vote.

Ali Kerimli, a leading opposition candidate, Monday cited violations observed from 113 of the 125 districts during the vote. With the opposition galvanized by "massive violations of the law," he said, the country would "witness one of the biggest rallies in the post-Soviet sphere," echoing those in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. But the promised protests raised concerns about potential violence and instability in the oil-rich nation, a secularized Muslim state in which the United States and other Western powers have a growing strategic interest.

After weeks of tension leading up to the vote, the capital was quiet Monday. Opposition and independent candidates are confident increased international attention will push the government to recognize their concerns. Opposition sources said 665 observers from 42 countries had witnessed more than 1,500 instances of local authorities instructing voters to support pro-government candidates, and almost 1,300 examples of ballot-stuffing. They also claimed that a new antifraud system to ink voters` thumbs with ultraviolet markings had been abused on more than 1,700 occasions.