Extraordinary parliamentary elections to be held in Azerbaijan on September 1

On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.

On September 1, 6,421,073 voters are eligible to participate. Voting will occur at 6,477 polling stations across 125 electoral districts. Polls will be open from 08:00 to 19:00, with preliminary unofficial results expected to be available by the night of September 2.

Within 5 days of the election, the Central Election Commission (CEC) will finalize and approve the election results, which will then be sent to the Constitutional Court for review. The Court will announce its decision within 10 days. A candidate who secures the highest number of votes in the first round will be declared the winner.

Approximately 990 candidates are vying for 125 seats, including 305 representatives from 25 political parties. Only one registered political party, the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), is not participating in the elections. The APFP has announced a boycott, citing "the lack of conditions for fair political competition, restrictions on fundamental freedoms, and the presence of over 300 political prisoners." However, opposition parties such as Musavat, the Republican Alternative (REAL), and others will participate in the elections.

The elections will be monitored by 60 members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and about 300 members of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission.

At the same time, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was not invited to observe the extraordinary elections. Azerbaijan also did not invite a PACE delegation to observe the extraordinary presidential elections held in February of this year. The refusal to invite PACE was one of the reasons for the suspension of Azerbaijan’s delegation’s powers in PACE for one year.