To win an election, you don’t need a majority. It’s enough to have a carefully selected minority that influences groups of people, together forming a majority. The simplest and repeatedly tested method of influence is to ensure dependency on the aforementioned minority. From financial dependency to involvement in illegal activities. If people have something to lose, they are in the game. Even a slight dependency is enough to make the dependents vote in unison with the mentioned minority. And yes, it needs to be a pyramid, as the country is large. Such a scheme can only fail due to poor organization and/or insufficient resources to build an effective network of influence.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 