Presidential Campaigning Begins In Azerbaijan

Russia’s presidential election is now over, but another Caspian country is gearing up for its own election in less than one month.

The Central Election Committee of Azerbaijan (CEC) registered candidates on Monday to start pre-election campaigning procedures for a presidential election that will be held on April 11.

According to the calendar of events and regulations that outlines preparations for and holding of the presidential elections, the pre-election campaign kicks off 23 days before election day, and must wrap up 24 hours prior to the start of elections, namely on April 10 at 08:00 am.

The April election will be the country’s eighth presidential race of its kind, and eight candidates will be running for the presidency in an election that is coming six months early. On February 5, President Ilham Aliyev, who is standing for re-election, announced an early election. The government had cited a number of significant events happening in the fall that would have complicated holding the vote in October.

President Aliyev will be running for his fourth term in office, and challenged by the independent candidate Zahid Oruj; Social Democrat Party’s candidate Araz Alizade; Gudrat Hasanguliyev, from the Whole Azerbaijan Popular Font Party; Faraj Guliyev, from the National Revival Movement Party; Hafiz Hajiyev, from the Modern Musavat Party; Razi Nurullayev nominated by the initiative group of "Frontier’s initiative group”; and Sardar Jalaloghlu, from the Azerbaijan Democrat Party.

Over 42,000 local and 400 international observers from various organizations, including the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking Countries, and the Commonwealth of Independent Countries, will be monitoring the election.

“We will survey all elections, examine the pre-election conditions through short-term observers, and cover the election day with 280 short-term observers,” head of OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission Corian Jonker told BBC Azerbaijan on March 17.

“We will observe the election day, voting, counting, listing [procedures], and the post-election period. We will stay in the country and follow the post-election developments. This is our observation and assessment.”

The overall population of Azerbaijan surpassed 9.8 million, according to latest data compiled by the State Statistics Committee. Over 5.3 million of the population is eligible for voting in elections, with over 1.2 million residing in the capital Baku.

Elections in Azerbaijan will be the second in Caspian region this year after the polls in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin was re-elected for what will be his fourth term in office. Over 76 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of the 65 year-old politician, considered a large margin against his seven rivals.