Preliminary results show Azerbaijan’s president has been reelected

By AIDA SULTANOVA
Associated Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Preliminary results of Azerbaijan’s presidential elections show an expected victory for incumbent Ilham Aliyev. The head of the country’s Central Election Commission, Mazahir Panahov, says that with nearly 55% of the ballots counted, Aliyev, 62, has won with 92.1% of the votes. He says other candidates on the ballot so far have won less than 3% each. Aliyev has been in power for more than 20 years, and has been expected to secure another seven-year term in office at the election. The vote was initially set for next year, but Aliyev called an early election shortly after Azerbaijani troops retook the Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian forces who controlled it for three decades.