10.10 Incumbent Aliyev Wins Azerbaijan Presidential Vote – Commission
MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) – Incumbent President Ilham Aliyev has won a landslide victory in Azerbaijan’s presidential election, gaining almost 85 percent of the vote with almost all votes counted, the head of the nation’s Central Election Commission said Thursday morning.
"Incumbent President Ilham Aliyev has gained 84.59 percent of the votes after ballots from 5466 of 5492 polling stations were counted," said the commission’s head, Mazair Panakhov.
His closest rival, the leading opposition candidate and prominent academic Camil Hasanli, trails behind Aliyev with 5.18 percent of the votes, while eight more candidates in the election failed to surpass the mark of 2.5 percent.
Turnout was 73.1 percent, or 3.724 million of Azerbaijan's 5.265 million people, Panakhov said.
Speaking in the early hours of Thursday on the national television, Aliyev, who succeeded his father as leader of Azerbaijan in 2003, thanked his people for the support.
“I once again thank you for the trust in me over the past 10 years and will imply all efforts in the future to make the life of our nation better,” he told AZTV television channel.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych have already congratulated Aliyev with the victory, although final results will be announced later.
The Aliyev dynasty has been at the center of Azerbaijani government for almost four decades. A favorable vote in a 2009 referendum to change the constitution paved the way for Ilham Aliyev to stand for a third term. Heads of state in the former Soviet republic were previously limited to only two terms in office.
Updates headline and first two paragraphs with result figures.
