BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — The presidents of Ukraine and Russia congratulated Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev after his anticipated victory, as preliminary outcomes launched Thursday indicated his resounding victory within the presidential election held the day earlier than.
Aliyev had referred to as an early vote simply months after his forces rapidly retook the Karabakh area from ethnic Armenian separatists who had managed it for 3 many years. He’s now heading for an additional seven-year time period in workplace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to as Aliyev and the 2 talked about persevering with their “strategic partnerships”, in line with the press service of the Azeri chief.
Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted his congratulations on X, previously often called Twitter, saying he appreciated Azerbaijan's humanitarian help to Ukraine and appreciated “mutual help for sovereignty and territorial integrity of our states”.
With simply over 93% of the votes counted, Aliyev secured over 92% of the votes, the pinnacle of the Central Election Fee, Mazahir Panahov, stated earlier Thursday. His three important challengers stayed away and conceded the race, congratulating Aliyev, the Interfax Azerbaijan information company reported.
Aliyev, 62, has been in energy for greater than 20 years, succeeding his father who was Azerbaijan's communist chief after which president for a decade when the nation grew to become unbiased after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Different leaders, together with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Iran's Ebrahim Raisi, additionally provided congratulations.
Analysts urged Aliyev superior the election to capitalize on his surge in recognition after the September blitz in Karabakh. It is going to be within the highlight in November when Azerbaijan, a rustic closely depending on fossil gas revenues, hosts a UN convention on local weather change.
Election officers indicated that turnout was robust, saying greater than 76% of eligible voters solid ballots in the course of the 11 a.m. ballot. Even earlier than the preliminary outcomes had been introduced, a number of hundred individuals carrying Azerbaijani flags gathered in Baku to bop and sing in celebration.
Aliyev stated he wished the elections to “mark the start of a brand new period”, through which Azerbaijan has full management over its territory. He and his household voted in Khankendi, a metropolis that was referred to as Stepanakert by Armenians when it was the seat of the self-declared separatist authorities.
The area, which had been identified internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh, and far of the encompassing territory got here below the total management of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia on the finish of a separatist struggle. in 1994.
Azerbaijan recaptured components of Karabakh and many of the surrounding territory in 2020 in a six-week struggle, which ended with a truce negotiated by Moscow. In December 2022, Azerbaijan started blocking the street linking the area with Armenia, inflicting meals and gas shortages, after which launched a September blitz that routed separatist forces in simply someday and compelled them to put down their arms.
Greater than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the area after the defeat of the separatist forces, leaving it virtually abandoned.
When he visited town in November, Aliyev stated in a speech at a navy parade marking the victory that “we’ve proven the entire world the energy, dedication and indomitable spirit of the Azerbaijani individuals.”
In Fuzuli, the Azerbaijani city close to Karabakh that was managed by Armenian forces till 2020, Raya Feyziyeva, 73, stated on election day that she felt “good” and was grateful to Aliyev for regaining her hometown She stated she was pressured to go away Fuzuli after its seize by Armenian forces and the expulsion of its ethnic Azerbaijani inhabitants in 1993.
“I really feel calm figuring out that I shall be buried in my fatherland,” he stated.
Within the village of Agali within the Zangilan area, one other space close to Karabakh that was retaken by Armenian forces, the turnout was equally robust. Mubariz Farhadov, who’s answerable for the native ballot arrange in a newly constructed college, stated he was filled with pleasure to witness a “historic second” when “elections are held in our fatherland for the primary time again in 30 years.”
There isn’t a restrict on the variety of phrases Aliyev can serve, and the six different candidates face no actual problem. A few of them have beforehand publicly praised Aliyev.
Aliyev's time in energy has been marked by the introduction of more and more strict legal guidelines that curb political debate, in addition to the arrests of opposition figures and unbiased journalists – even within the run-up to elections presidential
Azerbaijan's two important opposition events – Musavat and the Azerbaijan Folks's Entrance – didn’t participate within the vote, and a few opposition members claimed it might have been rigged.
