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The CEC of Azerbaijan rejected the candidacy of the director and screenwriter Rustam Ibrahimbekov, who runs for presidency and is presented by the opposition party National Council of Democratic Forces of Azerbaijan. The reason served the fact of his dual citizenship: Ibrahimbekov is a citizen of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation, the article of the Russian BBC service states.

Author of the material Natig Javadli writes that over the past 20 years, the opposition in Azerbaijan has repeatedly tried to unify around a single candidate, but this has constantly been thwarted by strife and lack of fit over not essential issues. After the parliamentary elections of 2010, smaller opposition blocs began to form in the country. This year, some progress has been achieved: National Council of Democratic Forces was formed by unification of several influential opposition parties, which is sometimes simply called the National Council (NC).

The article reads that Ibrahimbekov has never hidden his good relations with the Azerbaijani authorities. Thus, video-record appeared on Youtube recently where President Ilham Aliyev drinking for Ibrahimbekov’s wellbeing during a magnificent feast.

"There are several theories explaining how the director who was in favor became an oppositionist figure. In most of these theories Russia is mentioned anyway," writes the author. In 2009, Rustam Ibrahimbekov gave an interview to Russian media, where he severely criticized the official Baku, saying in particular that corruption will push Azerbaijan into a disaster. As the author notes, deterioration of relations of Ibrahimbekov with the Azerbaijani government are associated with this interview.

According to another view, Ibrahimbekov’s performance was just the last thing in a series of anti-Aliyev speeches. Everything started after the publication of his novel "Composition of waves." There are characters in the work, the prototypes of which served the ruling clan and supporters of Ilham Aliyev’s regime: author criticizes and condemns them," the material says.

In the article the author brings an excerpt from Ibrahimbekov’s interview given to BBC, in which he notes that he did not get anything from the Aliyev regime, neither materially, nor spiritually, "I lived my own life and my works always displeased the authorities, but they somehow endured."

The author reminds that after the parliamentary elections held in 2010, the Azerbaijani opposition was united in the Public Chamber. Initially the Chamber demanded the re-election of the Parliament considering the frauds. At the end the Chamber started to carry out campaigns to release the Azerbaijani activists detained during the protests, inspired by the "Arab spring."

With elections approaching, the Public Chamber faced difficulties in reaching agreement in suggesting a single candidate. And then the House started negotiations with the Forum of intelligentsia, which is also considered the opposition movement. At the same time, a group of businessmen from the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress in Moscow formed an organization known as
"The League of billionaires." Rustam Ibrahimbekov became one of the founders of this organization. "Although the founders of the "League of billionaires” claim that their main purpose is to protect the rights of Azerbaijanis in Russia, the League, however, openly criticizes the official Baku" Natig Javadli writes.

He notes that at the beginning of the year unprecedented wave of protests passed through Azerbaijan, including riots in Ismailli and Sadarak market in Baku.

Later on Rustam Ibrahimbekov was detained at the Baku airport for several hours, allegedly because of some problems with his diplomatic passport. A few days later he announced of his plan to found the National Council, without going deep into details of his idea.

"Since then the pro-government and nationalist parties criticized the establishment of the National Council, calling him a "Russian project" and associating it with the "League of billionaires." In response Ibrahimbekov calls the present government of Azerbaijan the "Kremlin project," the material reads.