Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan President, has secured a landslide victory in a snap presidential election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) said in a statement that Aliyev received 86 percent of the vote with 94 percent of votes counted. Turnout was 74.5 percent, the statement added.
"I am grateful to my people for voting for our achievements and success," Aliyev said on state television, soon after the election commission announced the partial results. "People voted for stability, security and development."
Despite a troublesome human rights record, Azerbaijan has sought close relations with the West as a balance against Russia, Iran and Armenia.
Baku is still in a low-intensity war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, a chunk of Azerbaijan's territory controlled by Armenian forces since 1993.
The election came amid worsening economic conditions in the country, prompting antigovernment protests.
There has been a steep drop in the value of the national currency, the manat, against the U.S. dollar. Falling oil revenues, which make up the vast majority of Azerbaijan's exports, have also rocked the economy amid a decline in global oil prices.
Citizens have been hard-hit by rising inflation, unemployment, and the cost of staple goods.
