IN NOVEMBER 2005, Azerbaijan held parliamentary elections. Voter participation was down 20 percent from the 2000 elections, and President Ilham Aliev’s party won overwhelmingly in what was regarded by international observers as a questionable, if not fraudulent, election. The small but increasingly visible Islamic Party of Azerbaijan was again barred from running, as in past elections. The opposition bloc lost again, as it has in every election over the past 12 years.