Voting concludes in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan went to the polls today to elect its president. With voting concluding across the country at 19:00 local time, the polls have closed and the counting of votes has begun.
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Voting, which began at 08:00 local time, ended at 19:00. There are a total of 6 million 478 thousand 623 registered voters across 6 thousand 537 polling stations established throughout the country.
The elections in Azerbaijan were monitored by a total of 90 thousand 372 observers, including 790 foreigners from 70 countries and 49 international organizations. In addition to the national press, 216 foreign journalists from 109 international media outlets are closely following the election.
Seven candidates are competing in the election, including 4 members of the National Assembly and 3 candidates from outside the parliament. In addition to the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, the candidate of the New Azerbaijan Party, the candidates include Kudret Hasanguliyev of the Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Razi Nurullayev of the National Front Party, Elshad Musayev of the Great Azerbaijan Party, Fazil Mustafayev of the Great Order Party, and independent candidates Zahid Oruç and Fuad Aliyev.
POLLING STATIONS ESTABLISHED IN KARABAKH
For the first time in approximately 30 years, polling stations were established in the regions of Azerbaijan liberated from Armenian occupation. More than 23 thousand voters cast their ballots at 26 polling stations set up in Shusha, the "Cultural Capital" of Karabakh, as well as in Khankendi, Khojaly, Khojavend, Aghdara, Aghdam, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, Lachin, and Kalbajar.
SECURITY MEASURES TAKEN
Within the scope of security measures, a camera system was installed at 1 thousand points across 125 election centers. As the vote counting process begins, the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan will submit the results to the Constitutional Court within 10 days, and the president will be officially announced following the confirmation of the results.