Dr Tatiana Shaumian, Director of the Centre for Indian Studies in Moscow, publishes in The Pioneer on 23-11-2005 the following article: Azerbaijan under scanner, by Tatiana Shaumian – Has the wave of ‘orange revolutions’ abated?
The answer of some experts appears to be ‘yes’, following a fizzled attempt by Azerbaijan’s fractured opposition to challenge the results of a fraudulent election in the streets of Baku last week: There seems little doubt that Azerbaijan’s November 6 parliamentary polls were heavily rigged. Over 600 foreign observers, most of them professionals sent from Europe, found massive official manipulation of the process – before, during and after the voting. The New Azerbaijan Party, which supports President Ilham Aliyev, duly declared victory, claiming for themselves and their allies the vast majority of parliamentary seats. Aliyev himself, playing the role of ‘wise leader’, went on TV to admit a few ‘technical violations’ but insisted the elections were valid.

Sorry, I can not find any photo of Tatiana Shaumian, Russia (see also my comment ‘Brave women without photos‘).
All this has happened before. In Georgia two years ago, in Ukraine one year ago, and in Kyrgyzstan last Spring. In each of those upheavals, the opposition refused to accept defeat and took to the streets. After a few weeks of demonstrations, the governments of those three countries fell, leading to new elections that were massively won by opposition forces. Continuer la lecture de « Tatiana Shaumian – Russia »