Azerbaijan’s ruling party has won a clear victory in parliamentary polls cementing President Ilham Aliyev’s grip on power in the country.
The Central Election Commission said Aliyev’s Yeni (New) Azerbaijan party took at least 69 seats in the country’s 125-seat parliament, with 91 percent of votes counted on Monday, 02 Nov 2015. The election was boycotted by the mainstream opposition.
The leader of the opposition Musavat party, Isa Gambar, told AFP news agency that a win for Aliyev’s party was a foregone conclusion “in the absence of strong opposition candidates …”.
Final voter turnout was 55.7 percent, said the Central Election Commission.

The mainly Muslim country wedged between Iran and Russia is considered key to Western efforts to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian hydrocarbon.
Depending largely on its energy exports, the country was hit by a drop in oil and gas prices and the global economic downturn, and in late February 2015 devalued its currency, the manat, by 34 percent against the dollar.
More than 700 candidates from 13 parties and one bloc were standing for the single-house parliament, the Milli Majlis, to be elected for a five-year term.
Over 5.9 million people were registered to vote.