Azerbaijani Presidential Election Coverage – Live Updates
A woman casts her vote at a polling station during a snap parliamentary election in Baku, Azerbaijan February 9, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov
This article was published over 1 year ago.
Published: 7 February 2024 13:03
Last modified: 23 August 2024 16:43
On 7 February 2024, Azerbaijan goes to the polls to elect its president for the next 7-year term. Originally scheduled for 2025, the presidential election has been brought forward by a year and a half. This is the fifth presidential election current President Ilham Aliyev is running in after a referendum removing term limits was passed in 2009. He is widely expected to win again this year against the backdrop of Azerbaijan’s success in taking back control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and a nearly non-existent opposition and depleted civil society, with multiple political prisoners jailed.
The main takeaways from the day
While official results will be released later, initial results show a resounding win for incumbent President Ilham Aliyev with over 90% of the vote.
Cases of voter fraud were caught on tape throughout the day, including Azerbaijan’s infamous “carousel” voting.
Opposition parties denounced the election as “undemocratic” and “illegitimate” in their statements.
Stay tuned to us here on our website as well as on our English service’s Twitter/X and Facebook pages for up-to-date information on Azerbaijani politics and society.
Preliminary election result announced: Aliyev leads with 92.1%
The Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov has announced the preliminary results of the extraordinary presidential elections held on 7 February.
According to the preliminary results, Ilham Aliyev, the presidential candidate of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, is leading in the presidential elections with 92.1% of votes.
Zahid Oruj, whose candidacy was nominated by himself, 2.2%, National Front Party presidential candidate Razi Nurullayev 0.79%, Great Organization Party presidential candidate Fazil Mustafa 1.99%, Great Azerbaijan Party presidential candidate Elshad Musayev 0.66%, Butov Gudrat Hasanguliyev, the presidential candidate of the Azerbaijan Democratic Front Party, received 1.78% of the votes, and Fuad Aliyev, who was nominated by himself, received 0.48% of the votes.
Panahov also emphasized that the election held on February 7 differs from the extraordinary election in 2018 in some aspects, stating that voter turnout was over 1 million people more compared to the 2018 election.
Azerbaijan Popular Front Party calls election illegitimate
Ali Karimli of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party has also weighed in on the elections with a statement from the party on Facebook.
Calling the election illegitimate, the statement. The party declared that the Presidential elections held on 7 February were not a real election, as they were held without competition, rights and freedoms were completely restricted, in an atmosphere of fear and threats, administrative terror, and the announced results are not an expression of the will of the people and are illegitimate.
Musavat Party: "The elections were not free and democratic"
We’ve got an official initial statement from Musavat Party about the elections, posted by Arif Hajili on Facebook.
The party said that the early election was announced without any public discussions beforehand, and that the reasons for calling the elections were not sufficiently explained. Furthermore, the party believes that during the election campaign, the proposals it put forward for creating equal competition conditions remained unanswered:
They also mentioned in the statement that the order to hold extraordinary, early elections had no legal basis in accordance with the Constitution, and that the presidential elections were not free and fair.
Congratulations trickle in before results officially announced
While we still are waiting on official results, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated Ilham Aliyev on his victory.
Citizens celebrate on the streets
Baku residents celebrate Ilham Aliyev’s victory in the presidential election while official results are still not announced. Baku, 7 February 2024. Photo: Meydan TV.
Baku residents are also on the streets celebrating what will clearly be a re-election for incumbent President Ilham Aliyev.
Baku residents celebrate Ilham Aliyev’s victory in the presidential election while official results are still not announced. Baku, 7 February 2024. Photo: Meydan TV.
Central Election Committee reports 76.73% voter turnout
The Central Election Commission has released the next statement with the latest voter turnout until 7pm local time.
The head of the Information Center of the CEC Secretariat, Farid Orujov, said that 76.73% (4,971,032 people) of voters participated during the day: “Information received about the progress and results of voting is considered primary information without legal significance”.
Vote counting is underway as Azerbaijan’s extraordinary Presidential elections wrap up, officially closing all polling stations, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC). With a voter turnout of 70.85%, a total of 4,590,075 ballots have been cast by the Azerbaijani electorate. Mazahir Panahov, the Chairman of the CEC, has announced that preliminary results will be unveiled at 9:00 PM.
The elections spanned 6,319 polling stations across 125 electoral districts. The voting process, monitored by 790 international observers representing 72 organizations and 89 countries, was transparently live-streamed from 1,000 polling stations via web cameras on the CEC’s official website. 216 representatives from 109 international media outlets shed light on the electoral proceedings. As the electoral chapter concludes, official protocols will be drafted, and the results will be submitted to the Constitutional Court for further scrutiny.
Another 'carousel' operation uncovered in Azerbaijani presidential elections
Recent findings reveal another instance of a “carousel” operation during the elections. A citizen, participating in a group dedicated to organizing the scheme, shared the details with Meydan TV.
The schedule indicates specific hours when education workers were directed to visit polling stations and cast their votes.
According to the disclosed timetable, the “carousel” operation reportedly occurred in the Sederak district of Nakhchivan. Attempts to obtain a response from the Central Election Commission on this matter have been unsuccessful so far.
Independent observers monitoring the extraordinary presidential elections are reportedly facing impediments hindering their free and unbiased observation.
According to election specialist Mammad Mammadzadeh, speaking to Meydan TV, observers are subjected to pressure during the precinct’s opening and voting processes, in defiance of the Election Code:
“Contrary to the provisions of the Election Code, observers are denied the opportunity to freely observe and document. Those wishing to capture photos or videos are forcibly removed from the precincts. They encounter various forms of pressure, with incidents occurring in nearly all precincts.”
According to CEC, the turnout has exceeded 60 percent
As of 3:00 p.m., Baku time, voter turnout stands at a 60.54% rate, with a total of 3,922,187 individuals having cast their votes. Farid Orujov, the Head of the Information Center at the CEC Secretariat, shared these figures, explaining that the data has been compiled from reports submitted by 6,515 polling stations.
"Carousel" voting fraud detected at multiple polling stations
“Carousel” voting fraud has been detected at multiple polling stations in several polling stations during voting in the early presidential elections.
We’ve detected it at precincts 24-25 of electoral district No. 10, 4-5 of electoral district No. 32 and 3-4 of electoral district No. 27. Voters in electoral district No. 27 even admitted that they voted in several polling stations.
Since 2005, invisible ink has been applied to the finger in order to prevent “carousel” during voting in elections. Marking the voter’s finger with invisible ink is a requirement of the Election Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. A voter who refuses to mark his finger is not given a ballot paper and is asked to leave the polling station. “Refused to be marked” is recorded in the voter list.
Independent journalist Lida Abbasli was not allowed to film in precinct 36 of district 8 (school 276) this morning.
Speaking to Meydan TV, the journalist said that no one stopped her when she entered. Later, when it became clear that she was not an observer, but a journalist, she was removed from the station.
Turan News Agency writes that in the 19th precinct of Narimanov-Nizami-Binagadi electoral district No. 18, journalists were not allowed to film on the grounds that they were not registered in the Media Register.
Journalists’ activities were also obstructed in polling station No. 19 of Sabunchu IV electoral district No. 29.
In the third electoral district of Yasamal district, Turan’s correspondent was not allowed into the 8th, 13th, 12th and 29th precincts.
Welcome to the Meydan TV English service’s live blog of Azerbaijan’s 2024 Presidential Election with real-time updates throughout the day. Let’s catch up to speed with what’s taken place so far:
Polls open, turnout by noon just under 40%
Polling has opened in the South Caucasus nation, and at noon local time, the Central Election Committee has announced that turnout is currently at 38.57%. The number of voters in Azerbaijan is 6,478,840.
Among them has been President Ilham Aliyev and his Vice President and wife Mehriban Aliyeva, who cast their ballots in Khankhendi. This is seen as a symbolic move, as Khankhendi or Stepanakert was until recently the capital of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Allegations of journalists not being able to enter polling places
There have been reports of journalists being prohibited from covering the election in some polling stations
Journalists are prohibited from covering the election in some polling stations.
Alasgar Mammadli (Ahmedoglu), an expert on media law, wrote about this on his Facebook page that journalists were told that if they were not registered in the Media Registry (as part of the new Law on Media in which only journalists approved by the government are able to be registered) are not allowed to film. Mammadli wrote that despite the restrictiveness of the new Law on Media,a journalist who does not have a court decision against them should not be prohibited from entering and filming in the stations.
The Central Election Committee has responded to allegations to Turan News Agency, stating that journalists do not need to be in the registry, and there have simply been some misunderstandings.
“Carousel” voting caught on tape
Our journalists have footage of individuals voting multiple times at different polling places in Baku, and even an on-screen admission. “Carousel” voting, where people travel around voting over and over again is a common feature of past elections in Azerbaijan. Stay tuned for the video, we’re currently working on subtitles for our English-speaking audience.
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