Social Movements, Elections and Ephemera

Available collections (see details below)

• Presidential Election, 2018
• Presidential Election, 2024

The Azerbaijan Collection is part of the East View Essentials: Election Ephemera – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia package. Learn more

Presidential Election, 2018

The 2018 Early Presidential Election in Azerbaijan took place on April 11, 2018. As was expected, the incumbent Ilham Aliyev won the elections without meeting much real opposition as the majority of his political opponents were either imprisoned or in exile. Accordingly, the main opposition political parties such as Musavat, Popular Front and ReAl, decrying the arbitrariness of the decision to initiate snap elections called for a boycott. Nonetheless, Aliyev trounced the remaining field of 7 candidates with 86% of the votes being in his favor.

Presidential Election, 2024

Originally planned to take place in 2025, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev called for Snap Presidential elections soon after the war in Nagorno-Karabakh which saw the expulsion of Nagorno-Karabakh’s remaining Armenians. The announcement for the elections came as a surprise to many observers and were seen as a ploy by President Aliyev to extend his autocratic rule riding on the popular euphoria in the aftermath of Azerbaijan’s victory against the backdrop of Azerbaijan’s stagnant economy. The elections were held on February 7, 2024 and took place within a highly restrictive political environment, drawing international criticism for its lack of genuine competition. The elections were preceded and followed by the imprisonment of political opponents and independent journalists not toeing the government line on social and political issues. In the absence of viable challengers, Aliyev secured a landslide victory, garnering 92% of the votes cast.