The Milli Majlis (Parliament) elections were held in Azerbaijan. According to the preliminary results announced by the Central Election Commission after counting 91% of the precincts on the evening of September 1, President Ilham Aliyev's party, New Azerbaijan, will secure 68 of the 125 seats in the unicameral parliament. Formally independent candidates have obtained more than 40 mandates, while the remaining seats will be distributed among smaller pro-government parties.
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The largest opposition party in the country, the People's Front of Azerbaijan, announced a boycott of the elections, while Musavat participated in the voting for the first time in 15 years. However, according to the preliminary results, it will not secure a seat in the new parliament. Representatives of this opposition party have claimed that the elections were marred by numerous violations, including the widespread use of a method of falsifying results known as the "carousel."
According to the Central Election Commission, voter turnout was only 37.27%. The parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were initially scheduled for November, coinciding with the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29) set to take place in Baku. On June 28, President Ilham Aliyev dissolved the parliament and called for extraordinary elections on September 1.
The National Council of Democratic Forces, a coalition of opposition parties and groups in Azerbaijan, has appealed to the international community not to recognize the results of these extraordinary parliamentary elections. The council stated, "COP-29 or any other international event cannot justify calling an extraordinary parliamentary election, nor can the president exceed his powers to call a vote at any time." The statement also criticized the elections for lacking fair political competition.
This year, for the first time, observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe did not monitor the parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan.
