Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan’s ruling party, chaired by President Ilham Aliyev, has gained victory at Sunday’s parliamentary election, according to preliminary tallies.

The Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party (YAP) gained 72 seats in the 125-member legislature, said the Central Election Commission (CEC), the country’s senior electoral body. YAP had only half of the seats in the previous parliament.

12 candidates representing 10 other parties were elected to the Milli Majlis. Pro-government Ana Vatan party and opposition-leaning Civil Solidarity Party each gained two seats.

Eight other parties will be represented with one member each in the newly elected parliament. These are the Democratic Reform and Great Establishment Parties, People’s Revival Movement, Umid (Hope), the Parties of Social Prosperity and Civil Unity, United Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, and the Justice Party.

Independent candidates claimed the remaining 41 seats in the legislature.

690 candidates stood in the parliamentary elections. Parliament members were elected for a five-year term under the majority of votes. Turnout was 50.1 percent of the 4.95 eligible voters.

A total of 1,024 international observers representing 20 international organizations and diplomatic missions followed the polling, along with over 48,000 local monitors.