Azerbaijan holds a parliamentary election expected to retain the presidential party’s dominance

BAKU (AP): Polls opened Sunday in Azerbaijan for a snap parliamentary election, the first since it regained full control of a former breakaway territory in a lightning offensive last year.

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

Aliyev’s father ruled Azerbaijan from 1993 until he died in 2003, then Ilham took over. Both have led the country with their heavy-handed rule, suppressing dissent as the country of almost 10 million people on the shores of the Caspian Sea basked in growing wealth from its huge oil and natural gas reserves.

The ruling party holds 69 of the 125 seats in the parliament, and most of the rest belong to small pro-government parties or independents. The Musavat party, the major opposition formation, put forth 34 candidates for Sunday’s election but only 25 of them were registered. The Republican Alternative opposition party will run 12 candidates.

Under the constitution, the election should have been held in November, but Aliyev decreed it to take place two months early as it coincided with the capital, Baku, hosting the United Nations climate talks, known as COP29.

The election comes just short of a year after Azerbaijani forces reclaimed in a military operation the Karabakh region, which since 1994 had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia, and forced out its self-declared government. Most of the region’s 120,000 Armenian residents fled the region in the face of the offensive.

The national election commission says 50 organizations will 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 Monday.