Azeri Aliyev carries on post-Soviet tradition

By Matt Robinson

BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, set for a second term after Wednesday's election, is accused -- like his father -- of stifling democracy under cover of an oil-fueled economic boom.

The 46-year-old, who became president in 2003, was groomed as successor by the then-ailing Heydar, a former local KGB chief who went on to rule Azerbaijan for more than 30 years first as Communist party boss and then as president.

The personality cult built around Heydar persists five years since his death.

Some analysts say Aliyev has been overshadowed by his father's legacy and the inner circle he inherited, disappointing those who expected him to reform the Caucasus state by tackling corruption and easing restrictions on the opposition and media.

"It's like wearing a suit that's too small," said Svante Cornell, research director at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute.

"He came into a position that was tailormade by and for his father, with people that had respect for his father and were obedient to his father. But that loyalty and sense of respect is not transferred to his son."

Fluent in English, Russian, French and Azeri, Aliyev has a Master's degree in history and international relations from the Moscow State University of International Relations.

As the rich son of the president, he was known for his fondness for gambling, prompting Heydar to shut down all casinos in Azerbaijan.

Aliyev became deputy leader of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and head of the Azerbaijan Olympic Committee before being made prime minister just prior to the 2003 election.

Pictures of Heydar can still be found at every turn in Azerbaijan, a country of 8.3 million people on the Caspian Sea, sandwiched between Iran and Russia at a strategic crossroads between East and West.

Aliyev is reported to have ordered all portraits and pictures of himself removed during the 2008 election campaign. But the image persists of an authoritarian in the Soviet mold.

He generally avoided campaign rallies, choosing on the final night of campaigning to address a televised government meeting, promising a hard line on the issue of Azerbaijan's Armenian-backed breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Aliyev voted at School No. 6 in downtown Baku in a dark gray suit accompanied by his wife Mehriban, seen by some analysts as a potential successor. Neither said a word to waiting reporters.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)