BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 7. Extraordinary presidential election in Azerbaijan is held following the legislation of Azerbaijan and all international democratic norms, a member of the group of international observers from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, deputy chairman of the Committee on Law and Order, Combating Crime and Counteraction to Corruption of the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic, Iskender Matraimov, told Trend.
"From early morning we visited three polling stations and we want to note that even before the opening of polling stations we observed high activity. After 12:00 we toured twelve polling stations, where at each of them we observed queues of voters of different ages, from the youngest to the elderly. Everything is going in accordance with the law, no violations have been observed," Matraimov noted.
To note, voting in the presidential election is going on in Azerbaijan.
Candidates for the presidency in the upcoming election include incumbent President Ilham Aliyev (New Azerbaijan Party), independent contenders Zahid Oruj and Fuad Aliyev, Razi Nurullayev (National Front Party), Fazil Mustafa (Great Order Party), Elshad Musayev (Great Azerbaijan Party), and Gudrat Gasanguliyev (Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party).
From 08:00 (GMT+4), polling stations will be open for voters, and close at 19:00. The Central Election Commission Secretariat's Information Center will share preliminary updates on the voting process and results at 15:00, 17:00, and 19:00 Baku time.
The crucial cutoff for candidate registration came on January 9, with seven contenders now in the race for the presidential seat.
The voter roll boasts 6,478,623 people who will cast their votes across 6,537 polling stations throughout the country.
A total of 90,372 observers are registered to monitor the election, with 790 of them representing 72 international organizations from 89 countries.
For the first time in the history of independent Azerbaijan, the upcoming election will span across the entire country, including the lands liberated from Armenian occupation in 2020. In the liberated territories, 26 polling stations have been established.
For Azerbaijani citizens residing abroad, 49 polling stations have been established in the embassies and consulates of 37 countries. This allows over 23,000 expatriates to participate in the voting process from various corners of the globe.
A robust media presence of 190 international entities is dedicated to observing the election, with 216 of their representatives officially registered as international observers.
Stay up to date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel