Ibrahimbayov is foreign to most of opposition
According to the monitoring center, some 81.9% of the respondents are going to vote for incumbent Ilham Aliyev, less than 2% - for Isa Gambar and about 1% - for Rustam Ibrahimbayov. Some 86.1% of respondents are not aware of Ibrahimbayov’s nomination as a single opposition candidate.
“I think there are several factors to explain this. First, significant part of the population traditionally supports the current government. Second, certain undeniable positive changes have occurred in the lives of Azerbaijani population in recent years. Of course, this is also an asset to the incumbent president of the country. Third, those who act as opponents to Ilham Aliyev look like a loser in the eyes of the public or they are not popular enough,” Musabayov added.
“As election campaign has not started yet and great part of the population gets news from the TV, many people simply do not know anything about Rustam Ibrahimbayov. Those who know him, know him as a writer, screenwriter. He has no any political biography. Rustam Ibrahimbayov is not popular as politician at all. Even though he is a single opposition candidate, he is foreign to the most of the opposition and people who have nominated him,” the expert stressed.