Voting has concluded in Azerbaijan’s first parliamentary elections since it reclaimed full control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, with reports of irregularities taking place at polling stations in the highly controlled electoral process.
The balloting offered Azerbaijan's 6 million-plus voters limited alternatives to loyalists of President Ilham Aliyev and came early in a fifth term built for decades on petro-wealth and carefully choreographed elections.
Although the outcome was never in doubt, one exit poll showed the ruling party winning 63 of 125 seats, down from 69 in the current legislature, the Milli Mejlis parliament, which is dominated by Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan party. Most of the rest belong to small pro-government parties or independents.
RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service said instances of alleged vote tampering were being reported. It posted several videos that appeared to show the same voters casting ballots more than once.
WATCH: A Woman In Baku Appears To Vote Twice (RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service)
When asked by RFE/RL whether he had voted twice as it appeared in a video, a man in the Neftchala region refused to answer. A member of the election commission denied that a person had voted twice.
A woman in Baku and one in Sumgait were also filmed apparently voting twice. The woman filmed in Sumgait gave her name as Shahnaz Mammadova and indicated to RFE/RL that she had voted at two different voting stations and said she was sent by people from her work office.
An RFE/RL correspondent also filmed what appeared to be two people entering a single voting booth at the same time in the city of Sumgait.
An hour before polls closed, election officials reported a turnout of 33.8 percent.
The national election commission said 50 organizations would conduct observer missions. The largest observer contingent, from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is scheduled to present its preliminary assessment of the election on September 2.
The Musavat party, the major opposition grouping, put forward 34 candidates for the election but only 25 of them were registered. The Republican Alternative opposition party has 12 candidates. The leading opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP) is staying away from "the government's masquerade of a fraudulent election" for the seventh straight time.
SEE ALSO: Azerbaijan's Second Snap Vote Since Karabakh Victory Could Further Signal Democratic Dead-EndAliyev was himself reelected to another seven-year term in a snap poll in February that was widely deemed to have been unfair and flawed.
Western observers have consistently criticized elections cementing Aliyev's reign as undemocratic, and Azerbaijani votes stretching back to 2003 and as recently as 2020 have been marred by violence.
Aliyev has sought a boost in popular support following Azerbaijan's victory over ethnic-Armenian separatist forces in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region in September 2023 in a lightning offensive.
Baku has been negotiating with Yerevan on a peace treaty looking to end decades of violence in the region.