August 26, 2002	Monday	Jamadi-us-Saani 16,1423

BAKU/MOSCOW, Aug 25: President Haidar Aliyev cemented his power in Azerbaijan through 39 constitutional changes adopted on Sunday in a controversial referendum which, the opposition says, was rigged on a massive scale.

The election committee announced the official result, saying that 97,3 per cent of voters had approved the suggestions for constitutional reforms.

Political opponents of Aliyev’s authoritarian rule, however, claimed vote-rigging had taken place on a massive scale. “The manipulation of the results by the authorities has reached unprecedented levels”, Arif Gadzhiyev, head of the largest opposition party “Musavat” said.

The opposition in the former Soviet republic had called on voters to boycott the referendum as they feared it was intended to make it easier for Aliyev, who is 79 and said to be ailing, to transfer power to his son Ilham — already vice president of the ruling party and deputy head of Azerbaijan’s national oil company.—dpa