Opposition doesn't recognize Ilkham Aliyev's victory

According to provisional official results, Azerbaijan's Prime Minister Ilkham Aliyev has won yesterday's presidential elections. The results however are not recognized by the opposition who maintain that the elections were rigged. Protests from supporters of candidate Isa Gambar were put down by the police and soldiers. Several people from both sides were injured.

Azerbaijan's Prime Minister Ilkham Aliyev leads the elections for the post of the head of the republic, said Mazakhir Panakhov, head of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) this morning. During the press conference he has held today, it was announced that reports on vote counts had been received from 4,673 polling stations, which is more than 90% of all the polling stations in the country. According to the CEC, voters' turnout exceeded 71%.

The provisional official data state more than 79.5% of the voters (2,283,820 people) gave their votes to Ilkham Aliyev. He is followed by Isa Gambar, leader of the Musavat opposition party, who, according to the CEC provisional results, received 12.6% of votes.

Panakhov states there were no serious breaches of the procedure during voting. The CEC head said that a final decision on the results of the elections would be announced by the CEC within the next week.

The opposition has already made clear that it doesn't recognize the results of the elections as they were, in their opinion, rigged. Late at night yesterday Isa Gambar held a press conference where he announced his victory in the elections.

Around a thousand of his supporters gathered last night in front of the Musavat party headquarters shouting "Isa Gambar is president!".

The demonstrators blocked roads in the city and said the demonstration would continue until the authorities recognized Mr. Gambar's victory.

Despite warnings from the police, the opposition supporters refused to clear the road and disperse, after which the police used force against them. There are injured from both sides as a result of the clash.

Baku prosecutor's office reported that more than 20 policemen had sustained various injuries and six of them had been taken to hospital. The police and internal forces soldiers managed to disperse the demonstrators only in the early hour of the morning.

The capital's prosecutor's office has instituted criminal proceedings against 15 activists of the Musavat party on the accusation of public order violations and resistance to the police. In response, the Musavat party begins mass protests from today and states it will fight for its voters until the end.