Election Committee officially names Ilkham Aliyev winner in presidential election

The Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan has officially announced the victory of Ilkham Aliyev in the presidential election of October 9. According to the Central Election Commission, 3.126 million people, or 84.54% of the voters coming to 5,492 polling stations cast their ballots in his favor. No major violations have been exposed during the vote counting and in the organization of the presidential elections in Azerbaijan, coordinator of the observer mission from the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Leonid Slutsky, who chairs the CIS committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, said. However, the opposition of Azerbaijan said it was dissatisfied with the results of the presidential elections and demanded the results of the elections be overturned. It staged a rally, which was authorized by the authorities and involved from 3,000 to 5,000 people. Leaders of the opposition said the elections “were not free, democratic and transparent”. Presidential candidate from the National Council of Democratic Forces Dzhamil Gasanli said, “The opposition does not recognize the results of the elections and will do its best to overturn them.” Russia’s view on Aliyev’s victory October 10, on the next day after the vote, when the results became known, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Ilham Aliyev on re-election to the post of president of the Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan. “Aliyev’s landslide victory at the presidential elections shows his high political authority and active support of his policy for socio-economic development of the country and stronger international positions of the country by the Azerbaijani citizens,” the Russian president said in a congratulatory telegram. The recent presidential election can serve as a new starting point for cooperation between Moscow and Baku, the director of the Moscow State University's Information and Analysis Center for Socio-Political Studies, Aleksey Vlasov, said at a teleconference Moscow-Baku, held at the Itar-Tass news agency. “Mutual goodwill and respect will undoubtedly have an effect on the dialogue between Russia and Azerbaijan,” Vlasov said. “We hope the recent elections will be a new starting point in the relations between Moscow-Baku on a wide range of issues of mutual concern.” Vlasov believes that the incumbent Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, owes his impressive victory in the elections to the frugal use of incomes from the export of hydrocarbons and a responsible social policy, as well as his reliance on young talent. “Youth projects, realized in Azerbaijan, allowed to mobilize a considerable part of the electorate and reach a high turnout, which is nowadays untypical of most post-Soviet countries,” Vlasov said. The result of the elections in Azerbaijan is good news for Russia and Russian business circles, deputy chairman of the Russian commission on UNESCO affairs Alexander Dzasokhov noted. Leaders of the two countries Vladimir Putin and Ilkham Aliyev have successful experience and political will to step up useful initiatives in bilateral relations, which have mass public support in Russia and Azerbaijan, he said. Aliyev has done much for Azerbaijan’s development, Dzasokhov noted. The two countries have good prospects for development of relations in the humanitarian sphere, he said. "We hope Azerbaijan will develop in the same positive direction," Dzasokhov added.