Azerbaijan’s ruling party on course for very close victory – exit polls

Azerbaijan’s ruling party appeared poised for a very close victory in Sunday’s snap parliamentary election called by President Ilham Aliyev, according to an exit poll.

The poll, conducted by Oracle Advisory Group, indicated that Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan Party was likely to secure 63 out of 125 seats, a decrease from the 69 seats it held in the previous parliament.

Previous elections since independence from the Soviet Union have not been regarded as fully free or fair, and the vote for the parliament is not expected to bring significant changes to the body that is dominated by the New Azerbaijan party of President Ilham Aliyev.

Under the constitution, the election would have been held in November, but Aliyev decreed it to take place two months early because the capital of Baku will host United Nations climate talks known as COP29 that same month.

via Reuters