Azerbaijan's ruling party on course for one-seat majority in election, exit poll says
Azerbaijan's ruling party was on course for a single-seat majority on Sunday in a snap parliamentary election called by President Ilham Aliyev, according to an exit poll.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev casts a ballot at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Baku, Azerbaijan September 1, 2024. Official website of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan/Handout via Reuters
Azerbaijan's ruling party was on course for a single-seat majority on Sunday in a snap parliamentary election called by President Ilham Aliyev, according to an exit poll.
The poll, conducted by Oracle Advisory Group, said Aliyev's New Azerbaijan party was set to win 63 out of 125 seats, down from 69 in the outgoing parliament.
Despite the forecast decline in seats, the president's supporters were still set to dominate the new legislature.
Dozens of other seats were set to go to candidates who are nominally independent of political parties but in practice back the government, and to minor pro-government parties.
It was the first parliamentary election since Azerbaijan staged a lightning offensive a year ago to recapture the breakaway territory of Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence for three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Aliyev, in power since 2003, moved swiftly to capitalise on that victory and won a fifth presidential term in February with more than 92% of the vote, according to election authorities.
Armenia accused Baku of ethnic cleansing in Karabakh after almost all of its more than 100,000 ethnic Armenian residents fled the area.
Azerbaijan denied that charge. It is rebuilding the region and resettling it with Azerbaijanis who fled during a war with Armenia in the 1990s. The Central Election Commission said about 42,000 people in Karabakh were registered to vote on Sunday.
The opposition Musavat party took part in the election for the first time in 15 years, having boycotted previous contests. It was not set to win any seats, according to the exit poll.
Its leader Arif Gadzhili told Reuters he did not believe the vote would be fair, but the party was running in order to "activate the political atmosphere in the country".
"The elections are not taking part in democratic conditions," he said.
Opposition deputies in the outgoing parliament are loyal to Aliyev, but some opponents outside parliament say they have faced persecution.
They point to the arrests of a string of independent journalists and political activists, which have focused international attention on Azerbaijan's human rights record as the oil-producing country prepares to host this year's COP29 climate summit in Baku in November.
Aliyev has rejected criticism over the arrests, saying Azerbaijan must protect its media landscape from "external negative influences".
By Nailia Bagirova
Related
Politics
China stops short of Africa debt relief as pledges more cash
China stopped short of providing the debt relief sought by many African countries this week, but pledged 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion) over three years in credit lines and investments.
Politics
Hungary's Orban says Meloni is 'Christian sister' who shares cultural roots
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed his close relationship with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Friday, describing her as his "Christian sister", and said cultural identity was playing a growing role in European politics.