Exit poll suggests ruling YAP party leads in parliamentary election
By Rasana Gasimova
The results of the exit polls in Azerbaijan’s snap parliamentary elections held on February 9 suggests that the ruling New Azerbaijan party (YAP) has won the victory.
Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov announced YAP’s victory in his Facebook account after the results from the majority of districts were announced on February 9.
“I congratulate the members of New Azerbaijan Party with another victory. I heartily congratulate our candidates who won the elections. I would also like to thank our numerous volunteers, who made a huge contribution to our party’s great victory. We are very grateful to those who have voted for our party, for our candidates, for our president’s policy,” Ahmadov wrote in his post.
Exit polls were conducted by the US-based AJF & Associates Inc. (US) jointly with Citizens' Labor Rights Protection League, the Rey Monitoring Center, and the French Opinion Way Research Institute together with the “Human Rights in the XXI Century – Azerbaijan” Foundation.
The parliamentary elections of the sixth convocation were held in Azerbaijan on February 9 with the participation of 1,314 candidates. The candidacies of 246 people were nominated by 19 political parties, 1,057 were self-nominated, 11 - by initiative groups. Twenty-one percent accounted for female candidates while 79 percent – male candidates.
During the election day, 5,573 permanent polling stations operated in 125 constituencies of the country. There were 5,329,460 registered voters.
Some 883 international observers and 77,790 local observers monitored the voting process. Among the local observers, 35,152 were representatives of political parties. International observers represented 58 countries and 59 organizations.
The decision to hold snap parliamentary elections came after the parliament asked the president to dissolve it and to reschedule early elections during its session held on December 2.
The parliament’s decision to dissolve itself was initiated by the ruling YAP party during the parliament’s session on November 28.
The proposal to dissolve the parliament and call for early elections is aimed at supporting the recent personnel reforms implemented by the Azerbaijani president.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia have already congratulated President Ilham Aliyev on the victory of the New Azerbaijan Party.
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