BAKU — Azerbaijan strongman Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday secured a fourth consecutive term in a snap election boycotted by the main opposition parties, near-complete results showed.

An Aliyev victory was widely seen as a foregone conclusion with the Caspian state’s downtrodden opposition unable to mount a serious challenge to his authoritarian rule.

Aliyev’s position has been boosted in recent years by the steady influx of petrodollars into his government’s coffers.

In power for 15 years, Aliyev received 86 per cent of the vote, with 94 per cent of votes counted, the Central Election Commission said in a statement.

Turnout was 74.5 per cent, the statement added.

Claiming victory in the election, Aliyev addressed the nation, thanking Azerbaijanis for "support and trust".

"Citizens of Azerbaijan have voted for security and progress," he said in a televised address.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the first foreign leader to congratulate Aliyev on his electoral win, the Azerbaijani presidency said in a statement.

The main opposition parties in the tightly controlled Caucasus nation boycotted the vote, calling the elections a sham and accusing the authorities of preparing to rig the vote.

They also condemned Aliyev’s surprise -- and unexplained -- decision to hold the election six months ahead of schedule, saying it was aimed at shortening the campaign period and hampering efforts to prevent vote-rigging.

"All previous elections in Azerbaijan were falsified and held with blatant violations of the electoral law. These elections will be no exception," the executive secretary of the opposition Republican Alternative Movement, Natig Jafarli, said ahead of the vote.

But authorities rejected the criticism, insisting the vote was free and fair.

"Azerbaijan is on a firm and irreversible path of democratic development. A free, open and transparent environment has been created in Azerbaijan for the presidential elections," foreign ministry spokesman, Hikmet Hajiyev, said.

"All the candidates enjoy equal rights and opportunities," he added.

‘Unprecedented’ powers’

Earlier in the day at a polling station in the capital Baku, 38-year-old schoolteacher Elmira Balayeva said she had voted for Aliyev because he was the only candidate capable of steering the country towards economic wellbeing and political stability.

"There is no alternative to Aliyev. Only thanks to him is Azerbaijan a stable country with a strong economy," she said.

But for Natig Veliyev, a 27-year-old student who did not turn out to vote, "the elections are pure farce."

"We have never seen free elections in this country. Aliyev simply extends his reign again and again."

Aliyev, 56, was first elected in 2003, after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev.

A former KGB officer and communist-era leader, Aliyev senior had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.

Ilham Aliyev was re-elected in 2008 and 2013 in polls that were denounced by opposition parties as fraudulent.

In 2009, he amended the country’s constitution so he could run for an unlimited number of presidential terms, a move criticised by rights advocates.

Azerbaijan adopted fresh controversial constitutional amendments in 2016, extending the president’s term in office from five to seven years.

The changes drew criticism from Council of Europe constitutional law experts as "severely upsetting the balance of powers" and giving the president "unprecedented" authority.

Cementing his family’s decades-long grip on power, the president last year appointed his wife Mehriban Aliyeva as first vice president.

Apart from the incumbent president, seven candidates ran in the poll – all low-profile figures who barely carried out any campaigning.

Corruption claims

Supporters have praised the Aliyevs for turning a republic once thought of as an ex-Soviet backwater into a flourishing energy supplier to Europe.

But critics argue they have crushed opposition and used their power to fund a lavish lifestyle for themselves and their family. Aliyev has denied accusations of rights abuses and corruption.

Some 5.2 million people were registered to vote in polls monitored by international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. — AFP