Azerbaijan's ruling party on course for one-seat majority in election

2/9/2024 12:40

        Azerbaijan's ruling party was on course for a single-seat majority on Sunday in a snap parliamentary election called by President Ilham Aliyev, according to an exit poll.
        
        The poll, conducted by Oracle Advisory Group, said Aliyev's New Azerbaijan party was set to win 63 out of 125 seats, down from 69 in the outgoing parliament.
        
        Despite the forecast decline in seats, the president's supporters were still set to dominate the new legislature.
        
        Dozens of other seats were set to go to candidates who are nominally independent of political parties but in practice back the government, and to minor pro-government parties.
        
        It was the first parliamentary election since Azerbaijan staged a lightning offensive a year ago to recapture the breakaway territory of Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence for three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.