Opposition parties fail to enter newly formed Azerbaijani parliament

ArmInfo. Following the counting of 91% of the ballots in the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev's New Azerbaijan party has received 68 of the 125 seats in the Milli Majlis. This was announced at a briefing by the Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan, Mazahir Panahov.

According to the media, political forces opposing the government will  not be represented in the new parliament of the country. The  remaining mandates will go to formally independent candidates who in  reality support the government, as well as small pro-government  parties.

According to the CEC, only about 37% of voters, or 2 million 196  thousand 711 voters, took part in the elections.

The largest opposition party in the country, the Popular Front of  Azerbaijan, boycotted the vote.  Another opposition party, Musavat,  took part in the elections for the first time in 15 years, but did  not receive a single seat in the new parliament. Its leader, Arif  Hajili, told Reuters that the party did not believe in the fairness  of the elections, but took part in them in order to "activate the  political atmosphere in the country." It should be noted that the  elections were held with numerous violations and fights, however,  international observers, including the OSCE/ODIHR, called them  "transparent and in line with democratic principles."