BAKU, Azerbaijan --
President-elect Ilham Aliev blamed the opposition for riots after his election to succeed his ailing 80-year-old father and said Saturday its leaders could face legal action.
In his first public appearance since Wednesday's vote, Aliev said the unrest that tore through Baku gave the impression that disorder reigns in the oil-rich former Soviet republic.
"All responsibility for that is carried by leadership of the Musavat party and they will answer before the law," Aliev said after laying a wreath at a memorial to victims of unrest during the Soviet collapse and fighting in the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Interior Minister Ramil Usubov said about 200 people had already been arrested in the investigation of violence that broke out after polls closed Wednesday.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage spoke to Aliev Friday night and called on him to "work for reconciliation in the country" and "expressed concern about any ideas of (opposition) roundups," said U.S. Ambassador Reno Harnish.
"We are urging all sides to be calm," Harnish said. "Incitement is not the right thing to do at this time, neither is excessive action."
Aliev, speaking on the 12th anniversary of Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union, said authorities would determine whether Musavat leader Isa Gambar shared responsibility for the clashes and should be arrested.
Gambar, who came in a distant second in the vote with 12 percent, faces "condemnation of the entire Azerbaijani nation as a person who causes bloodshed," Aliev said. Aliev received nearly 80 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results.
But Gambar said the unrest was set off by the regime, which he accused of falsifying the vote and launching a campaign of "total repression."
"We will continue with fight on a peaceful path," he said by telephone from his home, where he been since Thursday. He said some of his bodyguards had been arrested.
Already Friday, officials arrested two of Gambar's deputies and Igbal Agazade -- leader of the opposition party Umid, or Hope. All 96 lawmakers present at an extraordinary session of parliament Friday had voted to lift Agazade's immunity as a parliament deputy.
Another two opposition officials from parties supporting Gambar -- Ihrar party leader Vagif Hajiev and Etimad Asadov, former head of a group for the disabled from Nagorno-Karabakh -- have also been arrested, an official in the Prosecutor General's office said Saturday on condition of anonymity.
Aliev said he had called his father President Geidar Aliev -- who hasn't been seen since he was hospitalized July 8 and withdrew from the election this month for health reasons -- after the election to discuss the results.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe condemned the vote as failing to meet international norms, citing violations including ballot-stuff and falsified counting.
Aliev acknowledged Saturday that there had been what he called minor violations in the election process but said the vote was "democratic."
