Parliament in the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic of Azerbaijan has elected the son of ailing President Heydar Aliyev, Ilham, as prime minister. The move appears designed to cement the first dynastic succession in the former Soviet Union, as the 80-year-old president puts his son in line to take over if he becomes incapacitated. Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and Politburo member who has run Azerbaijan for much of the past 35 years, has been in hospital in Turkey for much of the past month with heart problems. The opposition rejected parliament\'s overwhelming vote to approve Ilham as prime minister on Monday. \"We believe this is an attempt to put into effect a neo-monarchist scenario in Azerbaijan, and we are confident that this... will not succeed,\" Isa Gambar of the opposition Musavat party told a Russian television station. The opposition called on Mr Aliyev to resign if he could not prove he was well enough to govern. Under Azeri law, the prime minister would assume power in the event of the president becoming too ill to govern until elections could be held. Heydar Aliyev pushed the new succession law through in a controversial referendum last summer. Ilham Aliyev, 41, has been groomed for succession, holding senior posts in the Azerbaijan state oil company and ruling New Azerbaijan political party. (BBC)