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“With intra-clan race for the pro-government candidate for president in Azerbaijan, constitutional amendments, adopted by the Azerbaijani president several years ago, made it clear that Aliyev is going to run for a third term,” expert Edgar Hovhannisyan said in an interview with Panorama.am, commenting on the Azerbaijani ruling party’s statement that it will name Ilham Aliyev as its presidential candidate for the third time in 2013.

Aliyev gave himself the green light to be president for life, the expert noted.

“Ilham Aliyev’s decision to run for a third term is not unconstitutional from the point of view of Azerbaijani legislation, but it contradicts Western values and traditions, it is a signal to the world that there is a state in the South Caucasus which swiftly moves towards authoritarianism, with all its consequences,” Hovhannisyan concluded.