Azerbaijani president secures fifth term despite international criticism – BBC News

February 8, 2024, 12:48 GMTUpdated 34 minutes agoImage caption, Crowds celebrated Ilham Aliyev’s fifth consecutive term in the streets of BakuAzerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has been re-elected for a fifth term with over 92% of the vote, as confirmed by election authorities. However, international observers have raised concerns over the lack of a significant challenger in the election. The main opposing parties chose to boycott the election, with one opposition leader referring to it as a “mockery of democracy”. The vote, originally scheduled for 2025, was called early after the government took control of a region governed by ethnic Armenian separatists. Despite competing against six other candidates, none of whom criticized his leadership, Mr Aliyev’s win was enthusiastically celebrated by thousands of supporters in the capital, Baku. State media reported that Mr Aliyev secured 92.05% of the vote with over 93% of the ballots counted, and the turnout was approximately 76%. Rights groups have consistently criticized the elections in which the president typically receives over 85% of the vote, deeming them as neither free nor fair. President Aliyev called for the early poll following a surge in his popularity, stemming from Azerbaijan’s successful military campaign in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh last year. Azerbaijan’s rapid offensive in September ended three decades of ethnic Armenian rule in the region, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory. Majority of its 120,000 ethnic Armenian residents fled to neighboring Armenia, although some high-ranking officials from the breakaway territory were arrested and have been in pre-trial detention in Azerbaijan for several months on various charges. Mr Aliyev hailed the victory in Karabakh as a “historic event unmatched in Azerbaijan’s history” and emphasized that the election was significant as it was conducted across the entire territory for the first time. Ali Kerimali, the leader of Popular Front, one of Azerbaijan’s main opposition parties, highlighted that there were “no conditions in the country for the conduct of free and fair elections”, pointing to restricted freedom of assembly, government pressure on media, and suppression of political dissent. Image source, President of AzerbaijanImage caption, Ilham Aliyev, shown casting his ballot on Wednesday, has officially won over 92% of the vote with most ballots countedMr Aliyev assumed office in 2003 after his father, Heydar Aliyev, passed away. His family took control of the government in 1993, two years after Azerbaijan gained independence from the former Soviet Union. In recent months, Azerbaijani authorities have increased their crackdown on independent media outlets, leading to the arrests of several critical journalists. Azerbaijan has faced condemnation from human rights organization Amnesty International, which has accused the authorities of suppressing freedom of expression and targeting voices critical of the president. Several foreign leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, have extended congratulations to Mr Aliyev for his victory in the election.

Author: OpenAI