Seven candidates competed in Azerbaijan's February 7 snap presidential election, including incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, as well as members of parliament Zahid Oruj, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Fazil Mustafa, Razi Nurullayev, leader of the Great Azerbaijan Party Elshad Musayev, and Fuad Aliyev.

Notably, the opposition parties Musavat and the Classic Popular Front Party decided not to participate, while the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan boycotted the elections, marking the first time in 30 years that elections were held in all regions of the country.

Farid Orujov, the head of the Election Information Center of the Secretariat of the Central Election Commission, reported that by 10 o'clock Baku time 19.44 percent of voters had already cast their ballots, amounting to 1 million 259 thousand 371 people.

President Ilham Aliyev along with his family members exercised their right to vote at polling station No. 14 of electoral district No. 122 in the city of Khankendi.

However, there were reports of restrictions on the monitoring process, with independent observers being denied access near the ballot box. Journalists also faced obstacles in covering the elections at certain polling stations, such as station No. 19 of the 18th Narimanov-Nizami-Binagadi constituency and station No. 19 of the 4th Sabunchu electoral district No. 29. Despite these challenges, international observers, including missions from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), the CIS Parliamentary Assembly, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Organization of Turkic States and other countries and parliaments, were present to monitor the election process.
President Ilham Aliyev, along with family members, exercised their right to vote at polling station No. 14 in electoral district No. 122 in the city of Khankendi.

However, there were reports of restrictions on the monitoring process, with independent observers being denied access near the ballot box. Journalists also faced obstacles in covering the elections at certain polling stations, such as station No. 19 of the 18th Narimanov-Nizami-Binagadi constituency and station No. 19 of the 4th Sabunchu electoral district No. 29.

Despite these challenges, international observers, including missions from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), the CIS Parliamentary Assembly, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Organization of Turkic States and other countries and parliaments, were present to monitor the election process.

Artur Gerasimov, the Special Co-ordinator and Head of the OSCE Short-Term Observer Mission, stated that more than three hundred OSCE ODIHR and OSCE PA election observers were monitoring the elections in all regions of the country.

Voting ended at 19:00 Baku time, after which the counting of ballots began. The Central Election Commission (CEC) reported that by 17:00, 4 million 590 thousand 75 people had voted, with a turnout of 70.85 per cent.
According to the results of the exit poll conducted by the American organization "Oracle Advisory Group" in the extraordinary presidential elections in Azerbaijan, the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev received 93.9 percent of the votes. Zahid Oruj 1.8, Fazil Mustafa 1.5, Gudrat Hasanguliyev 1.2, Razi Nurullayev. 0.9%, Elshad Musayev 0.4%, Fuad Aliyev 0.3%.

Read more about elections: Behind Azerbaijan's Early Elections: Political, Economic and Domestic Reasons