Snap parliamentary elections begin in Azerbaijan

BAKU, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) — Azerbaijan’s snap parliamentary elections began early Sunday.
Voting began at 8 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) across 6,478 polling stations. Over 6.4 million eligible voters are expected to participate in the electoral process, where 990 candidates will vie for 125 seats in the parliament.
The Central Election Commission reported that 598 observers from 69 countries and 51 international organizations were accredited to monitor the polls. Transparency measures included live streaming from 1,000 polling stations nationwide.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva and their daughter Leyla Aliyeva cast their votes early in the day at a polling station in Baku.
Preliminary results of the elections will be announced later during the day. ■