Allegations of fraud in crucial Azerbaijan vote

AZERBAIJANIS voted yesterday in a crucial parliamentary election they hoped would give them a voice in this oil-rich former Soviet republic that has been run by the same family for years, but the opposition alleged massive fraud that could taint the results.

The election was an uneven contest in a country where President Ilham Aliev’s word is law and where a weak opposition has been reduced by arrests and campaign rallies broken up with police beatings.

Yet some argued the ballot could signal progress.