By Farid Gajramanov
Baku, Feb 7 (EFE). – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev managed to benefit from his military victory in Nagorno-Karabakh at the ballot box on Wednesday, as he was re-elected by a landslide in the Caucasian country’s early elections.
According to preliminary results, with more than half of the ballots counted, Aliyev received 92.1% of the votes (2.5 million).
Historic victory
By reclaiming Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev vindicated his father, who was forced into a ceasefire that cemented the Armenian victory 30 years ago, and fulfilled the promise he made when he came to power after inheriting the presidency.
In fact, the victory of their leader was celebrated by thousands of Azerbaijanis during a massive march through the center of Baku after the polls closed.
The February elections took place amid the euphoria of the military operation that led to the capitulation of the authorities of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in September 2023, which officially disappeared on Jan. 1.
The victory of the president, who had never before received more than 90% of the votes, was historic.
Riding on the wave of battlefield victories – in the Nagorno-Karabakh war, the Azerbaijani army had already retaken a large part of the Armenian-occupied territories – he left his six opponents, who had between 0.4% and 2.2% of the vote, no options.
The top vote-getters were Zahid Orudzh, director of the Center for Social Studies, with 2.2%, and Fazil Mustafa, leader of the Great Creation Party, with 1.99%.
Voter turnout was also very high, with nearly 5 million Azerbaijanis (76.73% of those able to vote) going to the polls on Wednesday, two percentage points higher than in 2018.
The extra-parliamentary opposition, which denounces the continuous arrests of political activists and journalists, decided to boycott the presidential elections, believing that there can be no democratic elections under Aliyev.
Ballot boxes in Karabakh
The elections were held for the first time on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, from which more than 100,000 Armenians were forced to flee less than six months ago.
The authorities set up ballot boxes in the Karabakh capital of Yankendi (Stepanakert for Armenians), but also in rebuilt towns such as Fizuli, where a few thousand people voted.
In fact, Aliyev went with his family to exercise his right to vote in Yankendi, while he traditionally voted in a school in Baku.
This gesture was strongly criticized by Edmon Marukian, special envoy of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, who accused Baku of ethnic cleansing in an area controlled by Armenians since 1992.
“According to Azerbaijani legislation, Aliyev was never registered in Stepanakert to have the right to vote,” he commented, recalling that hardly anyone lives in Karabakh since the Armenian exodus.
The West, Armenia and Erdogan
The Azerbaijani authorities did not invite Western observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), because of the Council’s decision to restrict the activities of the Azerbaijani delegation, after which Aliyev threatened to leave this body, as well as the European Court of Human Rights.
The democratic opposition accused Aliyev of trying to minimize international scrutiny of the vote and ballot.
Baku has accused the West of siding with Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while denying accusations that it forcibly expelled Armenians, to whom Aliyev publicly guaranteed security and rights if they stayed.
However, experts do not expect the current tensions to escalate, as Azerbaijan’s exports hydrocarbons to the European Union, which needs Baku’s support for its energy transportation projects in the Caspian Sea.
In recent years, however, Aliyev has given priority to strengthening his relations with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who supported him unreservedly in the war for control of Karabakh.
As for Armenia, its leader, Nikol Pashinian, expressed confidence that after the elections the long-awaited peace treaty would be signed to normalize relations between the two countries.EFE
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