For an election-time column like this, one might wax philosophical about the possible outcomes of a neck-in-neck match.
About the 2015 general elections in Britain, writer Jonathan Freedland quipped in his Guardian op-ed: “As horseraces go, this one should be thrilling.” It’s quite a zippy piece about the contention between two rival parties, good ole’ Labour and the Tories.
Yet for the November 1 parliamentary elections in post-Soviet Azerbaijan – with its rigged elections and bad rap with human rights – there’s no need for anything like that. Why? Because to use such an analogy, one would have to throw light on the fact that the other horses – opposition candidates, those are – have had their legs fractured before the race’s start.
For the full op-ed by research fellow Jonathan Bach, click here. The views expressed herein are the author’s own and do not constitute those of the University of Oregon-UNESCO Crossings Institute.
