Аzerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) led by President Ilham Aliyev won majority in in a snap parliamentary election on Sunday, Azerbaijani media reported. 

 

According to preliminary results, the ruling party will hold about 68 seats in a 125-seat Parliament. A total of 44 independent candidates have been elected. In a nation with approximately 6,421,000 registered voters, the voter turnout was around 37.27 percent.

 

The opposition Popular Front party boycotted the elections. The opposition Musavat party took part in the election for the first time in 15 years, having boycotted previous contests.

 

Its leader Arif Gadzhili told Reuters on Sunday 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.

 

According to the law, the elections were slated for November, but were called earlier as Azerbaijan is going to host the COP29 UN climate conference at that time.