Azerbaijan leader Aliyev eyes third term in presidential poll

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev casts his vote in the presidential election at a polling station in Baku October 9, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer

BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev looks certain to extend his rule in the oil-producing former Soviet republic for a third straight term in an election on Wednesday that opponents say has already been skewed in his favour.

In the decade since Aliyev succeeded his father, Azerbaijan has enjoyed a boom that raised living standards and has courted Western countries drawn by its strategic location and oil and gas reserves which it exports to European consumers.