Azerbaijani President Claims Victory in Fraudulent Parliamentary Elections

President Ilham Aliyev has remained in the presidential seat since 2003. (Wikimedia Commons)

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) secured a highly expected victory on February 9 in the nation’s snap parliamentary election amidst major voting irregularities.

The governing YAP retained their majority with 72 out of the 125 seats in the Azerbaijani National Assembly, known as the Milli Majlis, gaining a total of three seats. Nineteen total political parties registered for the ballot. The only other party to gain any seats was the right-wing Civic Solidarity Party, gaining one seat for a total of three. The remaining seats stayed in the control of small opposition parties and independents.

The election was originally scheduled to be held in November 2020, but was pushed forward after Aliyev dissolved the Milli Majlis in December of last year. In forcing a snap election, Aliyev intended to increase the presence of the YAP in parliament and accelerate legislative and economic reforms.

Economic concerns dominated debate leading up to the election. Despite being an oil-rich country, Azerbaijan has a history of high inflation and unemployment. Environmental issues such as air pollution were also an important concern for voters. 

However, the predominant issue in the Azerbaijani election is the validity of the election itself.

Witnesses claim to have seen numerous incidents of ballot-box stuffing and carousel voting, where citizens cast multiple separate ballots at different polling stations. One candidate even recorded an ambulance transporting voters to and from different polling stations. Footage published to YouTube by Zartonk Media also shows voters and workers being beaten and forcefully removed from polling stations. 

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reported the day after the election that “significant procedural violations during counting and tabulation raised concerns whether the results were established honestly.”

Reports of mass voter fraud are not new occurrences in Azerbaijan. Since its independence in 1991, not a single election in the country has been deemed fair and free by international election monitors such as the OSCE. Because of this, many opposition groups, including the National Council of Democratic Voters and the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, have boycotted the election.

Ali Karimi, an opposition party leader, stated in an interview with Radio Free Europe that major parties are boycotting the election because they “don’t think that even the minimal requirements for democratic election have been met.” He maintained that the nation has no freedom of assembly, speech, or press and that “all the election committees at any level are fully controlled by the government.”

However, many say that the boycotts actually help the reigning YAP. Ilqar Mammadov, leader of the Republican Alternative Party, told Radio Free Europe that the “boycotts give the government the ability to achieve what they want and curb the energy of the people.” 

Despite the efforts of opposition parties and promises made by President Aliyev, fully democratic elections in Azerbaijan remain unlikely based on the country’s track record of holding undemocratic elections.