President: "Holding these elections is the will of the Azerbaijani people"

"These elections were very important, because these elections must support the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan, and the main purpose of holding the snap parliamentary elections was to continue the reforms without losing time," said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on February 10 while receiving the delegation led by head of Turkey-Azerbaijan parliamentary friendly group Samil Ayrim.

The head of state noted that these elections will play a very significant role in the future development of Azerbaijan: "The structural reforms have been carried out; both the government and the Presidential Administration have been renewed, and of course, Milli Majlis could not stay away from this. Therefore, I am confident that these elections will play a very important role in the future development of Azerbaijan, as our legislation should match the growing pace of our country. At the same time, our international relations also expand, and Azerbaijani MPs should represent our country at international organizations at a high level."

The head of state added that there was great interest in the elections: "According to the information I have received, the elections were held peacefully across the country, within the legislation; there was no disturbing factor. There was great interest in the elections, as I do not remember that there were ever more than 1, 300 candidates in any parliamentary elections. It shows that the elections were held in a competitive atmosphere, and the fair stance was demonstrated in the registration process of all the candidates. The number of candidates is the reflection of trust in the elections, as if there was no trust, these people would not join the elections. Therefore, these elections have a special role."

The Azerbaijani President also spoke about the opinion of international observation missions: "Regarding the opinion of some international observation missions, we are already used to their negative opinion. In some cases, their opinion is written before the elections, and it is not written by them, it is written in other places and transferred to them. We have witnessed it numerous times. The most important thing is that holding these elections is the will of the Azerbaijani people. If the Azerbaijani people were dissatisfied with the elections, they would raise their voice. Today, you have also seen that there is completely democratic atmosphere in Azerbaijan. Elections and holding elections are one of the reflections of democracy. If the candidates were so active, competitive during the election campaign, - it is indeed like this, you have also noticed that, - if they walked door by door to convey their opinion to voters, of course, if they were dissatisfied with the elections, they would raise their voice. However, so far, we have not witnessed such cases. It once again shows that these elections reflect the will of the Azerbaijani people, and this is the main thing."