The national elections commission said that with 65 percent of the ballots counted, President Ilham Aliyev had received 86 percent of the vote in an early presidential election.
"The amounts of oil are falling and the amounts of gas will be quite modest, so I expect to see some kind of rebalancing of the relationship between Azerbaijan and the West in the next few years", said Thomas de Waal, from Carnegie Europe. Azerbaijan's main opposition parties did not participate in the polls and had called for a boycott, claiming that the vote would be rigged.
Aliyev's foreign policy aide, Novruz Mamedov, said on Facebook: "Circulation of a report that has been prepared in advance.is a disrespect to voters, people, their will and choice".
According to an exit poll conducted by ELS Research Center, the current president is leading the race with 82.71% of the votes.
The National Council of Democratic Forces, an opposition group, claimed late Wednesday that only about 15 percent of the electorate voted, while Azerbaijan's elections commission reported the turnout at almost 75 percent.
This was the first presidential election in Azerbaijan since constitutional amendments in 2016 that further increased the powers of the president.
Aliyev brought forward the date of the vote to April 11 from October 17, a move his allies said was necessary to avoid presidential and parliamentary elections clashing in 2025.
Seven candidates ran, but critics questioned whether they were actual opponents.
The OSCE monitors will present their observations at a news conference on Thursday.
Aliyev has tried to strike a balance between Azerbaijan's former Soviet master Russian Federation and the West, notably on energy policy.
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