BAKU: Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev's landslide victory for a fourth term was marred by "serious irregularities" and a lack of real competition, the OSCE said Thursday after its observers monitored the vote.
"International observers reported widespread disregard for mandatory procedures, lack of transparency, and numerous serious irregularities, such as ballot box stuffing," the OSCE said in a report.
It said the polls boycotted by the opposition "took took place within a restrictive political environment" and "lacked genuine competition," with opposition candidates refraining from challenging or criticising the incumbent.
Aliyev won the polls with 86 percent in snap elections called six months early, giving him a fourth consecutive term in the energy-rich ex-Soviet country on the Caspian Sea.
The main opposition parties in the tightly controlled Caucasus nation boycotted the vote, calling the elections a sham and accusing the authorities of electoral fraud.
Aliyev, 56, was first elected in 2003, after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, who had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.
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