Accompanied by ballot stuffing, multiple voting, and pressure on independent observers, Sunday’s snap parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan ended with yet another victory for the ruling family.
According to preliminary results, the “Yeni Azerbaijan” party, headed by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, will have at least 71 deputies in the new convocation of the Milli Majlis (Parliament). This was announced by the Central Election Commission.
During the elections, held exclusively under a majoritarian electoral system, a number of independent candidates also succeeded in several constituencies, most of whom, however, not only have close ties with the ruling party but also openly supported the “Yeni Azerbaijan” pre-election program. As of now, it is known that two opposition figures, Erkin Gadirli and Vugar Bayramov, will hold parliamentary mandates.
1,314 candidates from two dozen political forces participated in the elections.
President Ilham Aliyev, who inherited power from his father 17 years ago, initiated snap parliamentary elections nine months before the scheduled regular elections, justifying the decision with the extensive economic reforms underway in the country.
Official Baku had been assuring in recent weeks that the elections would be transparent and in line with democratic standards.
The Azerbaijani opposition, however, insists that the elections were massively falsified. The opposition forces, which largely boycotted these elections, have called on their supporters to take to the streets on February 16 against the falsified results of the vote.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), as stated by the head of the observation mission, Arthur Gerasimov, also recorded that the elections were held with violations, non-transparent and non-democratic.
