Azerbaijan autocrat wins election boycotted by opposition: exit poll

BAKU: Azerbaijan strongman Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday secured a fourth consecutive term in a snap election boycotted by the main opposition parties, exit polls showed.

An Aliyev victory was widely seen as a foregone conclusion with the Caspian state’s downtrodden opposition unable to mount a serious challenge to his authoritarian rule. In power for 15 years, Aliyev received 82.7 percent of the vote, according to a government-commissioned exit poll, while the private French pollster Opinion Way said he garnered 86.5pc of the vote.

His position has been boosted in recent years by the steady influx of petrodollars into his government’s coffers. Opposition parties in the tightly controlled Caucasus nation have said the elections are a sham and accused the authorities of preparing to rig the vote.

They have also condemned Aliyev’s surprise — and unexplained — decision to hold the election six months ahead of schedule, saying it was aimed at shortening the campaign period and hampering efforts to prevent vote-rigging. “All previous elections in Azerbaijan were falsified and held with blatant violations of the electoral law.