Aliyev Apparent Azerbaijan Winner
Former Soviet Politburo member and onetime local secret police chief Geidar Aliyev appeared to have seized victory in Azerbaijan’s presidential election, winning 90% of the vote, Interfax news agency said Monday.
“A representative of the Central Electoral Commission who preferred to remain anonymous said that out of the 97% of the population who took part, 90% voted for Aliyev,” the agency said.
Itar-Tass news agency said only that turnout was 96% in Monday’s vote. Official results will be released later this week.
Aliyev, who headed the KGB security police in the former Soviet republic in the 1960s and was first secretary of its Communist Party in the 1970s, had faced two virtually unknown candidates in the balloting.
The election was a way to confirm his effective leadership of the Caucasian nation, which stripped former President Abulfez Elchibey of his powers in June and confirmed in an August referendum that it had no confidence in Elchibey.
Azerbaijanis opted for their Communist-era leader after the loss of swathes of territory to Armenian forces from the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh earlier this year.
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