Voting in Azerbaijan parliamentary election ends

By Ruslan Rehimov

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AA) - Voting in the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan ended on Sunday.

Azerbaijanis headed to the polls to elect members of the 125-seat National Assembly.

With about 6.421 million registered voters, a total of 990 candidates vied for seats in the National Assembly.

The voting, which began at 8:00 a.m. local time, concluded at 7:00 p.m.

The first unofficial results are expected to be announced later today.

This election is particularly significant as it marks the first time in 30 years that parliamentary elections are held across all of Azerbaijan's territory, including regions recently liberated from Armenian occupation.

The early election follows President Ilham Aliyev's decision on June 28 to dissolve the government and fix Sept. 1 as the election date.

The decision to hold early elections was made to avoid a scheduling conflict with the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which will be held in Baku on Nov. 11-22.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel in Istanbul