Poll observers say Azerbaijan presidential vote marred by irregularities | Elections News

Election observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have raised “extreme questions” regarding the validity of Azerbaijan’s presidential election, which seen incumbent Ilham Aliyev protected a fifth time interval with better than 90 p.c of the vote.

The election was “not aggressive” and “was held in a restrictive environment”, OSCE shows instructed a data conference inside the capital, Baku, on Thursday, a day after the poll. They acknowledged that “newest arrests of important journalists have hindered the media from working freely”.

There was no speedy comment from the federal authorities.

With better than 93 p.c of the ballots counted, Aliyev secured better than 92 p.c of votes, the head of the Central Election Payment, Mazahir Panahov, acknowledged on Thursday.

“Whereas six completely different candidates participated inside the advertising and marketing marketing campaign, none of them convincingly challenged the incumbent president’s insurance coverage insurance policies of their campaigns, leaving voters with none actual completely different,” the shows acknowledged.

The OSCE well-known “issues with secrecy of the vote, an absence of safeguards in opposition to quite a lot of voting, indications of ballot stuffing”, elevating “extreme questions on whether or not or not ballots had been counted and reported in truth”.

“Whereas preparations for the election had been surroundings pleasant {{and professional}}, it lacked actual pluralism and vital voices had been repeatedly stifled,” the observers acknowledged.

Aliyev’s time in power has been marked by the introduction of increasingly more strict authorized pointers that curb political debate, along with the arrests of opposition figures and independent journalists.

He’ll most likely be inside the limelight in November when Azerbaijan, a country reliant on revenues from fossil fuels, hosts a United Nations native climate change conference.

‘President for all instances’

Aliyev, 62, who has been in power for better than 20 years, is now heading into one different seven-year time interval in office.

He was first elected president in 2003 after the dying of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer who had dominated Azerbaijan since 1993.

He was re-elected in 2008, 2013 and most these days in 2018 with 86 p.c of the votes. The entire elections had been denounced by opposition occasions as rigged.

In 2009, Aliyev amended the construction so he may run for an infinite number of presidential phrases, a switch criticised by rights advocates who argued he may turn into president for all instances.

He generally known as an early vote merely months after his forces swiftly reclaimed the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh enclave from ethnic Armenian separatists who had managed it for 3 a few years.

Azerbaijani officers have beforehand acknowledged its elections are sincere and clear, and that Aliyev’s recognition has elevated as a result of the victory in Karabakh.

Analysts beneficial that Aliyev moved the election forward to capitalise on his burst in recognition following the September blitz, which seen better than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing the realm.

Aliyev has declared that he wanted the election to “mark the beginning of a model new interval,” whereby Azerbaijan has full administration over its territory.

Leaders, along with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan supplied congratulations.