Foremost, the point of content between the two sides remains the registration of Rasul Guliyev, the chairman of Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP) by the Central Election Commission (CEC). Guliyev, a former speaker of the Parliament, has been living in exile in the U.S. since his resignation from his position in 1996. In June 2003, the Central Election Commission rejected the registration papers of Guliyev, motivating the decision as he holds a U.S. \"green card\" and thus carries some obligations in front of another state, which is prohibited by Azerbaijani law. The Democratic Party, in turn, has been arguing that Guliyev holds refugee travel documents and that hence, the decision of the CEC is illegal. To this date, the CEC has registered 18 other candidates, including the incumbent President, his son Ilham Aliyev, as well as dozens of opposition leaders.

On July 14, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has considered the case and rejected the appeal of the ADP. Guliyev supporters argue that the court\'s decision was politically biased and that they will apply to the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights to get Guliyev registered. Meanwhile, they also continue holding street rallies to protest the decision of the CEC and complain to international organizations about the case. ADP has held a number of unauthorized rallies in the last two weeks, most of which were broken up by police forces. Hundreds of ADP members were taken into custody.

Last week, the Coordinating Center of Opposition, which unites nine major opposition parties, has issued a statement in which it condemned the rejection of Rasul Guliyev\'s candidacy and accused the CEC of biased conduct in the pre-election activity. Specifically, the opposition parties complained about the double standards towards the candidates. The ambassador of the OSCE to Azerbaijan Peter Burkhardt expressed concern about the non-registration of Rasul Guliyev and said that it should be the electorate that makes the choice, not the CEC.

Meanwhile, the tensions between the two sides further escalated when the police arrested the drivers and bodyguards of two other opposition parties, Musavat and Popular Front. The arrest happened when the traffic police stopped the cortege of the two chairmen and confiscated the cars on the basis of their illegal registration. A police statement read that the \"opposition leaders\' cars had illegal numbers and that they created a hazardous situation on the road\". Opposition parties immediately issued a statement, calling the incident as an \"act of terror and political pressure\" on the opposition forces. The daily Yeni Musavat even claimed that the \"terror\" was planned well in advance and that Musavat members had been informed about it beforehand. Another daily, Zerkalo, speculated that the arrest was agreed at the high levels of the authorities.

Many local observers claim that the arrest of the car cortege and bodyguards of the two opposition leaders is not a simple road incident related to the violation of the law but a well planned action of pressure against them. Should these pressures increase, the pre-election situation will also become tenser and no one can exclude the outbreak of violence.

During this week, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe members Andreas Gross and Martinez Cassan arrived in Azerbaijan for another monitoring of Azerbaijan\'s fulfillment of its obligations in front of this organization. The tensions between the authorities and the opposition parties might become the focus of their trip as well, as the opposition parties are looking at the international organizations as a way to pressure the government.