BAKU, Nov 9: Opposition protesters angry over their defeat in Azerbaijan’s parliamentary poll massed in Baku on Wednesday, calling on President Ilham Aliyev to step down.

Organizers claimed that at least 20,000 protesters, chanting ‘Freedom! Resign!’ and waving orange flags like those held by anti-government crowds during Ukraine’s revolution, marched in orderly columns to Qelebe square as police looked on.

“The Azeri people demand freedom. We want the West, which promised us democracy, to honour its promises,” said Sardar Jalaloglu, deputy head of the opposition Democratic Party.

“We are giving the government one chance today to accept a crime was committed in the elections being rigged, and to fix its mistake.”

Sunday’s election — criticised by observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe — handed a huge parliamentary majority to Aliyev’s supporters, while the Azadlyq opposition block gained a mere handful of seats.

Election officials bowed to the criticism and ordered re-runs in two disputed constituencies where Aliyev loyalists beat opposition candidates. They said they were looking at serious reports of fraud in several others.

Analysts doubt the opposition in the Caucasus country has enough support to overturn the election result and overthrow the establishment, as happened in Ukraine, but the protests will be a further test for Azerbaijan’s leadership.—Reuters