Azerbaijan Holds Parliamentary Elections

Baku / 09.02.20 / Turan: Parliamentary elections are held in Azerbaijan on Sunday. Citizens of the country elect 125 deputies of the Milli Majlis.

At 8.00 5,573 polling stations opened, where 5 million 329 thousand 460 voters will be able to vote.

1,314 candidates are fighting for 125 seats in parliament, of which 79 percent are men and 21 percent are women, the head of the CEC, Mazahir Panahov, said at a press conference on the morning of February 9.

In total, 2,431 people applied for participation in the elections.

Of these, 1,637 candidates were registered. However, subsequently 321 people withdrew their candidacy. The registration of two more candidates was canceled by the CEC due to the identification of dual citizenship. And thus the number of candidates was reduced to 1,314.

Among them are representatives of 19 political parties.

Most of the candidates are from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, which has 123 candidates.

Among the opposition forces, Musavat has the largest number of candidates - 64 (including both party nominees and self-nominees).

The Union of Real Republicans created by the Republican Alternative Party (does not have state registration) and a group of independent candidates has 30 candidates. The Movement block formed by the Nida and D18 movements and a group of independent activists has 16 registered candidates.

77,790 local and 883 international observers are accredited to observe the parliamentary elections.

On 1,000 sites webcams have been installed.

There is no quorum in the elections. The winner is the candidate with the highest number of votes. The voting will end at 19.00.

Preliminary data on the voting results will be announced late on February 9 through the Elections information system. –06D-