Electoral Process in Azerbaijan – World Countries for Kids

The president is elected for seven-year terms via direct elections. Term limits are not in place. Since the early 1990s, elections have not been considered competitive or credible by international observers. President Ilham Aliyev won a fourth term in 2018 with some 86 percent of the vote amid clear evidence of electoral fraud and a boycott by the key opposition parties. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers stated the election lacked genuine competition due to a restraining political environment in which the seven nominal opposition candidates did not openly challenge or criticize the president.

Aliyev is a dynast. Born in Soviet Baku in 1961, he was the second of two children of Heydar Aliyev, former president of Azerbaijan. At the time of Ilham Aliyev’s birth Heydar Aliyev was a senior official in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic Ilham Aliyev’s mother Zarifa Aliyeva was an ophthalmologist in the public health sector at the time of his birth. Aliyev sought opportunity in Istanbul after struggling to find work in Moscow. He returned to Azerbaijan after his father after his father became the president.  In July 2003 Aliyev’s father fell ill, and in August he got Aliyev appointed as prime minister, letting Aliyev to lead the country in his absence. In October Aliyev’s father withdrew from the presidential election slated for later that month and passed his candidacy to his son. With the election stacked in his favour, Aliyev won the election with over three-fourths of the vote. He was inaugurated on October 31. Thus started the process of dynast turning into an autocrat.

In 2017, Aliyev appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as vice president. The post was created via constitutional changes that were pushed through in 2016 without any public consultation or meaningful parliamentary debate. The PM and cabinet are appointed and dismissed by the president. Prime Minister Ali Asadov was appointed in 2019.

The 125 seats in Azerbaijan’s unicameral National Assembly (Milli Mejlis), are filled through elections in single-member districts, with members serving five-year terms. Aliyev dissolved the parliament in December of 2019, and snap elections were held in February of 2020. The ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) won 70 parliamentary seats, while independents won 41 and the remainder few went to smaller parties; contests for 4 seats were not immediately decided. Turnout stood at 46.8 percent. A major opposition alliance, the National Council of Democratic Forces, boycotted the elections.

OSCE monitors were critical of the conduct of the polls, noting that “the restrictive legislation and political environment prevented genuine competition … despite a high number of candidates.” It further added that “significant procedural violations during counting and tabulation raised concerns whether the results were established honestly.”