Aliyev capitalizes on the victory of Nagorno Karabakh at the polls and achieves a new mandate in Azerbaijan

First modification: 02/07/2024 – 22:26

3 min

The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, was re-elected this Wednesday, February 7, with 92.1% of the votes of the early presidential electionsaccording to preliminary results cited by the country's electoral commission.

With this overwhelming result, Aliyev, in power since 2003 and who won in 2018 with 86% support, secures another term of seven years in this Caucasian country.

Aliyev, an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has so far achieved 92.1% of the vote, according to preliminary official data.

In January, Aliyev, 62, called early elections to mark “the beginning of a new era” in Azerbaijan, which he said had restored its sovereignty by retaking Karabakh.

After a wave of Aliyev's victories on the battlefield – in the 2020 war the Azerbaijani Army recovered a large part of the territories occupied by the Armenians – his six opponents, none critical of the Government, added just 0.4 % and 2.2% of the votes.

The most voted were Zahid Orudzh, director of the Center for Social Studies, with 2.2%, and Fazil Mustafa, leader of the Great Creation party, with 1.99%.

The opposition outside Parliament, which has reported arrests of political activists and journalists, boycotted these elections and denounced that, with Aliyev in power, the elections cannot be democratic.

Regarding participation, more than 70% of Azerbaijanis (4.5 million) had already voted with two hours left before the polls closed, according to the Central Electoral Commission.

The elections took place for the first time in the Nagorno Karabakh region, under Azerbaijani control since the victorious military operation last September.

In addition to Karabakh, polling stations were also opened in cities rebuilt after being liberated during the 2020 war, such as Fizuli, where barely 2,000 people live.

In fact, Aliyev cast his vote at a polling station in the Karabakh capital on WednesdayJankendi (Stepanakert for Armenians).

Aliyev's vote in Karabakh, abandoned last year by more than 100,000 Armenians, was criticized by Edmon Marukian, special emissary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Nagorno-Karabakh faced its dissolution as a republic at the beginning of this year. According to the agreement between the Armenian authorities of that territory and Azerbaijan, as of January 1, all state institutions were annulled and Nagorno-Karabakh ceased to exist.

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The enclave, internationally recognized as part of the territory of Azerbaijan but populated by a majority of ethnic Armenians, had declared itself independent in 1991, amid the fall of the Soviet Union.

For neighboring Armenia, the collapse of Karabakh is a tragedy and humanitarian crisis, as almost all of the region's 120,000 ethnic Armenians had to flee to Armenian territory.

With EFE and Reuters