BAKU, December 30. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has registered incumbent President Ilham Aliyev as a candidate for president.

"To register Ilham Aliyev, who was nominated by the Eni Azerbaijan (New Azerbaijan - TASS) party, as a candidate for president at the February 7 extraordinary presidential election," it said in a resolution.

As many as 50,000 signatures have been collected in support of Aliyev’s candidacy, whereas at least 40,000 are required under law.

This will be Aliyev’s fifth election. He won in 2003 (76.84% of votes), 2008 (88.73%), 2013 (84.54%), and 2018 (86.22%).

Fifteen more candidates intend to vie for the presidential office. Four of them were nominated by political parties, the rest are self-nominees. Neither have yet been registered by the Central Election Commission.

On December 7, Aliyev signed an executive order to organize extraordinary presidential election on February 7, 2024 instead of October 2025. The reasons for the move were not disclosed. Under Azerbaijan’s law, the president is elected for a term of seven years indefinite number of times.