A Useless Campaign? The Example of a Non-Partisan Candidate in Azerbaijan's Parliamentary Elections

Abstract

This article analyzes the way a non-partisan (in Azerbaijani: "bitərəf") female candidate who is not related to the dominant party ran her campaign for the Azerbaijani parliament in a largely uncompetitive election process. After briefly discussing the main obstacles experienced by non-partisan candidates during the campaign, I will describe the strategies she used to carry out an alternative campaign in a centrally located constituency in the capital city Baku. In so doing, I will show that if such a campaign might seem alternative in its form according to the local context and promising due to the candidate’s social capital, its background remains fairly classical in terms of the approach adopted and the issues raised, while the outcome turns out disappointing.