In an ominous move, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev has pushed through over 40 constitutional amendements, the most concerning an abolition on the number of terms he can serve.
This is typically one of the first moves authoritarian leaders take when trying to consolidate their rule and weaken the power of opposition members.
Azerbaijan's citizens voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move, with 92% in favour after half the ballots were counted. This suggests a large amount of coercion or election fraud, for any vote that returns results over 75% in favour generally points to electioneering.
This frightening announcement is concistant with the general trend away from democracy in Central Asia, with many of the former Soviet countries languishing under strong-man rule.
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