Azerbaijan votes in polls decried as sham by opposition

Voters in Azerbaijan went to the polls Sunday in parliamentary elections decried by the opposition as a sham vote that will strengthen President Ilham Aliyev's grip on power without bringing any real change.

Parliamentary elections had been scheduled for November this year, but Aliyev called early polls in December 2019 after a surprise self-dissolution of the legislature that is dominated by his ruling party.

The move followed a replacement of the prime minister and a number of veteran officials within the presidential administration and the government.

Critics say that Aliyev, 58, seeks to address growing public discontent over an economic slowdown and to improve his government's image by replacing discredited old elites with younger technocrats.

The opposition had accused the government of limiting their ability to campaign and several parties are boycotting the vote.

"I voted for an opposition candidate," taxi driver Ilgar Gasymov, 58, said at a polling station in the capital Baku.

"Only the opposition cares about ordinary people's problems."
Another prominent opposition leader, Isa Gambar of the Musavat party, which is taking part in the vote, complained that authorities had "totally falsified all the previous polls."