Azerbaijanis vote under close scrutiny

The chairman of Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission, Mazahir Panahov, declares the parliamentary poll started in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, November 6, 2005.

    BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Azerbaijan's ruling New Azerbaijan Party is poised to win Sunday's parliamentary elections as preliminary results showed it has won 58 seats in the 125-seat parliament, the Central Election Commission chief said on Monday.

    With 28 percent of the votes counted, the ruling party has won 58 seats while the opposition alliance Azadliq, which groups the Musavat party, the Popular Front and the Democratic Party, has only five seats, Mazakhir Panakhov, chairman of the Central Election Commission, told a news briefing.

    Independent candidates have taken 33 seats, he said, adding that "the elections were conducted in a democratic atmosphere."

    Azerbaijani voters cast their ballots on Sunday to elect a new 125-member parliament, the Milli Mejlisin, in the oil-rich CaspianSea nation.

    The poll was preceded by months of street protests and arrests.Opposition activists held rallies in the capital of Baku nearly every weekend in the run-up to the elections. Enditem

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