Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev claims election victory in presidential election

BAKU - Voting wrapped up in Azerbaijan's presidential election at 19.00 local time on Wednesday with incumbent President Ilham Aliyev winning 86.09 percent of votes, according to preliminary data announced by the country's Central Election Commission on Thursday.

Chairman of the Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party Gudrat Hasanguliyev was a distant second with 3.4 percent, followed by self-nominee Zahid Oruj, who scored 3.07 percent of votes. The remainder was split among 5 other presidential candidates.

Ilham Aliyev was reelected for the next seven years. After the announcement of preliminary results he has appealed to nation to express his gratitude for the confidence.

"I always feel the support of Azerbaijani people. This support gives me strength. This support is the main condition for our development. The unity of people and government is the main factor of our development in Azerbaijan," said the Head of state.

Ilham Aliyev said that in this election, the Azerbaijani people voted for stability, security, development and progress and appraised the work that had been done over the last 15 years.

"The unity of people and government, our expedient policy, has today turned Azerbaijan into a strong country," added Ilham Aliyev.

The April 11 snap presidential election in Azerbaijan was conducted with heavy voter turnout (around 75 percent). Some 3,959,553 out of 5,3 million voters cast their ballots, according to the Azerbaijan' s Election Commission.

The election was conducted in 5,641 polling stations of 125 constituencies, some 5,426 of which were permanent. Web cameras have been set up in 1,000 polling stations (20%) to ensure the transparency of the voting.

The voting was monitored by nearly 900 international and 58175 local observers, as well as more than 50 foreign journalists.

"Presidential election in Azerbaijan was held in line with all standards," Secretary General of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member States Mahmut Erol Kilic said at a press conference in Baku April 11.

"The election was held at a very high level, and high voter turnout was observed," he said. "I hope that the choice of the Azerbaijani population will further strengthen the country."

Deputy Prime Minister and Executive Secretary - Deputy Chairman of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov said that the presidential election in Azerbaijan can be considered as valid. He noted that the next seven years will be a new stage of development in Azerbaijan.

"A large-scale government plan will be developed thanks to Ilham Aliyev's strategy, which will cause Azerbaijan to develop in all spheres and strengthen its positions in the international community. Ilham Aliyev's victory is the victory of all the people of Azerbaijan and I congratulate our nation on this occasion," Ahmadov added.

Zviad Dzidziguri, deputy chairman of the Georgian parliament, said at a press conference in Baku that Presidential election in Azerbaijan was held in line with democratic European standards. "We observed high voter turnout. We were encouraged by the fact that all candidates had their observers at the polling stations," he added. The Georgian official added that there were no significant deficiencies during the monitoring process.

Ilham Aliyev, 56, was first elected president in October 2003 as a successor to his father Heydar Aliyev. He won 76 percent of the vote in 2003 and was re-elected in 2008 and 2013 with 89 and 85 percent respectively.

Azerbaijan in September, 2016 voted in favor of extending the presidential term from five to seven years.