Azerbaijan stages snap election expected to maintain president’s dominance

President Ilham Aliyev and his late father, Heydar Aliyev, have led Azerbaijan since 1993 (Azerbaijani Presidential Press Office/AP)

Azerbaijan is holding a snap parliamentary election that is the first for the country since it regained full control of a former breakaway territory in a lightning offensive last year.

Previous elections since independence from the Soviet Union have not been regarded as fully free or fair, and the vote for the Milli Mejlis parliament is not expected to bring significant changes to the body that is dominated by the New Azerbaijan party of President Ilham Aliyev.