Azerbaijan’s Aliyev wins 7-year term on top of 15 served
The president of Azerbaijan raced Wednesday toward a landslide win that would add seven more years to his 15-year tenure, the Associated Press reports.
The national elections commission said that with 65 percent of the ballots counted, President Ilham Aliyev had received 86 percent of the vote in an early presidential election.
Leading opposition parties boycotted the race, leaving seven token challengers.
The National Council of Democratic Forces, an opposition group, claimed late Wednesday that only about 15 percent of the electorate voted, while Azerbaijan’s elections commission reported the turnout at nearly 75 percent.
In a statement, the opposition group also alleged widespread violations including people voting multiple times.
Since Aliyev won the last election in 2013, Azerbaijan’s constitution has been amended to extend the presidential term from five to seven years. Aliyev’s critics denounced the 2016 plebiscite as effectively cementing a dynastic rule.
At the same time, his government has long faced criticism in the West for alleged human rights abuses and suppression of dissent.
The presidential election originally was scheduled for the fall. Officials said it was moved to April because the country would be busy with various high-profile events at the end of 2018.