MOSCOW (AP) - Voters in Azerbaijan cast ballots for a new parliament Sunday in an early election after a short and low-key campaign.
President Ilham Aliev, who has been in power since 2003, called the election in December after the sitting parliament appealed to be dissolved in order to elect a new legislature that would work more closely with the president on reforms.
Aliev’s New Azerbaijan Party held 65 of the 125 seats in the old parliament, short of the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution in the oil-rich country, a former Soviet republic with a population of 10 million.
Nineteen political parties fielded candidates, but most of the more than 1,600 people running were self-nominated, according to the election observation mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The official campaigning period began three weeks ago. Polling places closed at 7 p.m. (1500 GMT); it was not clear when definitive results would be announced.
International observers have criticized past elections in Azerbaijan over ballot box stuffing, irregular vote-counting procedures and other concerns.
Central election commission chief Mazahir Panahov said no complaints about violations of election regulations had been received by Sunday afternoon.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.