Presidential candidate Djamil Gasanli accuses President Ilham Aliev of corruption

In the evening of October 1, during the debates in the air of the Public TV of Azerbaijan, Djamil Gasanli, a presidential candidate of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), accused of corruption incumbent President Ilham Aliev, who was running for a third term.

Djamil Gasanli has reminded the audience of the video scandal around "bargaining for parliamentary mandate", well-known in Azerbaijan as "Gyulyargate". He has noted that a year ago, Elshad Abdullaev, the former rector of the Azerbaijani International University, who migrated from Azerbaijan, posted on the Internet a video record of his conversation with Gyulyar Akhmedova, the then MP. During the conversation, Gyulyar Akhmedova promised Elshad Abdullaev that he would be elected as an MP at the elections of 2005 and assured him that his name would be included "in the presidential list." Djamil Gasanli has also reminded the audience that in the conversation both the briber and the bribe-taker were members of the "Yeni Azerbaijan" Party led by Ilham Aliev. Djamil Gasanli believes that "Ilham Aliev is personally engaged in the sale or donation of MP seats."

In his turn, Mubariz Gurbanly, the plenipotentiary representative of the President Ilham Aliev, called the statement of Djamil Gasanli about the state leader a "slander". He has added that the candidate bases his entire campaign "on the libelous information."