More than 6.4 million people are registered to vote in an election dominated by President Ilham Aliyev's party.
Polls have opened in Azerbaijan for an early parliamentary election, the first since the country regained full control of the former breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning offensive last year against ethnic Armenian forces.
Voting began at 8:00 a.m. (04:00 GMT) on Sunday and will end at 7:00 p.m. (15:00 GMT). More than 6.4 million people are registered to vote in the oil-rich Central Asian nation. Voting is taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh for the first time in 30 years.
Previous elections since independence from the Soviet Union have not been considered entirely free or fair, and the vote for the Milli Mejlis, the National Assembly, is not expected to bring significant changes to the body dominated by President Ilham Aliyev's New Azerbaijan Party.
Aliyev is often accused of ruling with an iron fist and suppressing dissent in this country of nearly 10 million people on the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan has seen economic growth under his leadership, fueled by significant oil and natural gas exports. The 62-year-old leader succeeded his father, Heydar Aliyev, who was president from 1993 to 2003.
The ruling party holds 69 of the 125 seats in the outgoing parliament, with most of the rest held by small pro-government parties or independents.
The Musavat Party, a major opposition party, fielded 34 candidates for Sunday's election, but only 25 of them were registered. Another opposition party, Republican Alternative, fielded 12 candidates.
According to the constitution, elections were to be held in November, but Aliyev issued a decree bringing them forward as Baku was to host the UN climate talks, COP29.
The elections came just under a year after Azerbaijani forces seized the Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia in a military operation in 1994, ousting its self-proclaimed government. Most of the region's 120,000 Armenian residents fled the offensive.
The country's Central Election Commission says 50 organizations have been conducting observation missions. The largest contingent of observers, from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is scheduled to present its preliminary assessment of the election on Monday.
