Voter turnout exceeds 60% in Azerbaijani presidential election by noon - CEC
BAKU. April 11 (Interfax) - A total of 60.74% of voters cast their ballots at the Azerbaijani presidential election as of 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Azerbaijani Central Elections Commission secretary Farid Orujov said.
"We are witnessing a high voter turnout. As of 3 p.m. a total of 3,227,817 people, or 60.74% of voters, cast their ballots," Orujov said.
Voters are active primarily in Azerbaijan's regions, he said.
It was reported earlier that the voter turnout was 39.39% as of noon of Wednesday.
Azerbaijan is voting in presidential election on Wednesday. This day was declared a day-off in Azerbaijan.
Polling stations opened for Azerbaijan's presidential election at 08.00 a.m. local time. Voters will be able to cast their ballots until 7.00 p.m. local time.
There are 5,426 permanent and 215 temporary polling stations in 125 constituencies, including the 41 polling stations in foreign countries.
A total of 1,000 polling stations are equipped with web cameras.
There are 5,309,434 eligible voters in Azerbaijan.
There is no turnout threshold in Azerbaijan, and elections are considered valid regardless of the number of people who voted in them.
There are eight candidates in this election: incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, Zakhid Oruj, Araz Alizade, Gudrat Gasanguliyev, Faraj Guliyev, Khafiz Gadzhiyev, Razi Nurullayev and Sardar Dzhalaloglu.
Aliyev has been Azerbaijani president since 2003. He was re-elected in 2008 and in 2013.
According to changes to the Azerbaijani Constitution made in 2016, the president is elected for seven years.