Snap presidential election underway in Azerbaijan

Snap presidential election has got underway in Azerbaijan today, with eight candidates, including incumbent president Ilham Aliyev, running for president.

Local laws do not provide for a minimum voter turnout requirement, so voting will be deemed valid in case of any turnout.

According to Elections Information Center of Azerbaijan’s Central Electoral Commission, as of 10:00am local time (9:00am Moscow time), 18.71% of total eligible voters (994,000 people) voted for president.

According to Azerbaijani CEC, on April 11, 5 million 315 thousand Azerbaijani voters will be voting at 5,641 polling stations. 894 international and about 59,000 local observers will be observing the voting. Besides, 118 representatives of 51 international Mass Media will be covering the election.

Vice Chairman of the Council of Federation of Russia, Coordinator of International Voters at Presidential Election in Azerbaijan, representative of CIS Interparliamentary Assembly Ilias Umakhanov says organization of the election process is at a high level. “Primary monitoring of the voting process shows that it is organized at a very high level,” Umakhanov told journalist in Baku, according to Interfax-Azerbaijan.

As EADaily reported earlier, incumbent president Ilham Aliyev announced the date of snap presidential election yet on February 5. Eight candidates run for president, including incumbent president Ilham Aliyev representing Yeni Musavat ruling party, Gudrat Hasanguliyev – member of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, chairman of the Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Araz Alizada – member of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, Faraj Guliyev – member of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, chairman of the National Revival Movement Party, Razi Nurullayev - political analyst, former deputy chairman of Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, Sardar Jalaloglu - politician, chairman of Azerbaijan Democratic Party. Previously ran for president in 2013, Zahid Oruc - member of the Parliament of Azerbaijan since 2001. Former deputy chairman of Motherland Party.