Parliamentary elections were held in Azerbaijan on 1 September 2024. They were originally scheduled to take place in November 2024, but were brought forward after parliament was dissolved in June 2024. The New Azerbaijan Party of President Ilham Aliyev won a majority of 68 seats.
Campaigning was minimal, the leading opposition Azerbaijani Popular Front Party did not take part, and the election was criticized for being undemocratic.
Background.
The elections were originally scheduled to take place in November 2024. However, in late June 2024 MPs asked President Ilham Aliyev to dissolve the National Assembly and call elections in September to avoid holding them during the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference to be hosted in Baku from 11 to 22 November. Despite criticism from opposition parties, the measure was approved by the Constitutional Court on 27 June, which allowed Aliyev to dissolve parliament on 28 June and set 1 September as the date for the elections. Previous elections since independence have not been regarded as fully free or fair, and the vote for the Milli Mejlis was not expected to bring significant changes to the body. Coming into the election, the ruling New Azerbaijan party held 69 seats.
These where the first elections since Azerbaijan regained the Armenian separatist state of Nagorno-Karabakh, after launching an offensive in September 2023.
The leading opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party did not take part in the election, for the seventh straight time.
Electoral system.
The 125 members of the National Assembly are elected in single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post system. More than 6.4 million people registered to vote in the election. Voting began at 08:00 and closed at 19:00. The election also marked the first time that voting was held in Nagorno-Karabakh since 1994, following its recovery by Azerbaijani forces in 2023.
Candidates.
The opposition Musavat party initially fielded 34 candidates for the election, of which only 25 were registered to appear in the balloting. The Republican Alternative Party fielded 12 candidates.
Conduct.
Fifty organisations sent observers to monitor the election, including the OSCE.
Results.
Results showed the ruling New Azerbaijan Party of President Aliyev securing a narrow majority of 68 of 125 seats in the National Assembly. Forty-four seats were won by independents, while the remaining seats were won by smaller parties. Official turnout was at 37.3%.
Aftermath.
Musavat refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new parliament and called for another vote, describing the election as "accompanied by widespread violations, including multiple voting by the same individuals and groups, ballot stuffing, and pressure on observers." 
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe denounced the election as having "fallen well short of democratic standards." Its election monitors also reported that the election campaign had been "barely visible" and that the election was "a contest devoid of competition."
On 23 September Sahiba Gafarova was re-elected as speaker of the National Assembly.
References.
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