Azerbaijan's incumbent Ilham Aliyev has won another term as the president after winning the presidential election with a 92.12% vote tally, the Central Election Commission announced on Friday.
However, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has voiced concern about the vote. The election monitoring organization believes the election took place in a restrictive atmosphere with no real competition.
What Do Election Moniters Say?
Election monitors, however, have expressed concern about the vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Thursday that the election took place in a restrictive environment with no real political competition.
Aliyev called for an early election following a jump in popularity after recapturing land seized by ethnic Armenian separatists more than 20 years ago. He will sit as president for another seven years.
Special coordinator for the OSCE Artur Gerasymov said his elections "took place in a restrictive environment and ... was marked with the stifling of critical voices."
He further stated his belief that Aliyev was "not meaningfully challenged." due the hampering of independent media and the lack of other political parties. Pluralism was subdued as well as well as the "absence of analytical reporting" in the media. Thus clouding the voters' ability to make informed choices.
The world's attention will return to Azerbaijan in November when it hosts a U.N. climate change conference. Oil & gas are the country's primary export.
Ilham Aliyev succeeded his father in 2003, who was president of the country under Communism and remained in power for a decade after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Aliyev and his family cast their ballots in Khankendi, a city that was once the home of the headquarters of the separatists government and named Stepanakert by the Armenians. Ethnic Armenians, back by Armenia, took over the territory after the end of a separatist war in 1994.
