Azerbaijan looks to monitors after Aliyev victory

By Matt Robinson

BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan looked to foreign monitors on Thursday for their assessment of a presidential election claimed by incumbent Ilham Aliyev but condemned by the opposition as a charade.

The mainstream opposition boycotted the vote in the former Soviet state, alleging curbs on democracy and media freedom made participation pointless.

Victory for Aliyev was never in doubt, extending the Aliyev family's hold on the oil-producing country at the threshold to Central Asia, where the West and Russia are vying for influence over energy supplies.

The ruling New Azerbaijan Party claimed victory for Aliyev -- son of late long-serving leader Heydar Aliyev -- and supporters rallied outside his party headquarters. Authorities put turnout at 77 percent and said he won 89 percent of the vote, based on partial results.

"Despite the boycott by some opposition parties, the Azeris made their choice in favor of Ilham Aliyev," New Azerbaijan executive secretary Ali Akhmedov said on Wednesday night.

The election arm of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was due to present preliminary findings at 4.00 p.m. (1100 GMT) on Thursday.

The OSCE has already criticized irregularities in the run-up to the election.

Opposition politicians have accused Western governments of toning down their criticism of Azeri democracy for fear of losing a key strategic ally and access to its oil reserves in the Caspian Sea -- also courted by Russia.

The country of 8.3 million people, mainly Shi'ite Muslims, lies at a strategic crossroads between East and West, sandwiched between Russia and Iran.

The war in August between Azerbaijan neighbors Georgia and Russia has deepened concern among Western governments over energy transit routes running from Central Asia to Europe through the Caucasus. Analysts say the West will be reluctant to come down too hard on Aliyev and push him toward Russia.

The government insists Aliyev is genuinely popular, and rejects accusations of rampant corruption.

Fueled by an oil boom, Azerbaijan's economy is growing at one of the fastest rates in the world, filling government coffers and going some way to alleviating rural poverty.

The Musavat opposition party was waiting for a reply from the municipal authorities to its request to hold a protest rally on Saturday in Baku.

"It's very likely the authorities will refuse permission," party leader Isa Gambar told Reuters. "We are not going to put our supporters under police truncheons."

Some analysts say the opposition is also partly responsible for Aliyev's continuing grip on power, having failed again to unite around a single candidate.

(Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze; editing by Angus MacSwan)