EXPERT COMMENT
As Azerbaijan faces transitions in its relations with Armenia and its energy portfolio, this week's poll secures the leadership into the next decade.
On 7 February Azerbaijan will go to the polls in a snap presidential election called by President Ilham Aliyev in December.
President since 2003, Aliyev is seeking re-election for a fifth term of seven years (the length of presidential terms introduced by referendum in 2016) to 2031, when he will turn 70. A previous referendum in 2009 abolished the limit to the number of terms a president can serve.
The election campaign has yielded no surprises in a political system which scholars have defined as a hegemonic variant of authoritarianism. The campaign has featured a performative pluralism, in which multiple candidates - generally figures not well known to the public - participate, but are united in their praise of the incumbent, who does not himself campaign.
Azerbaijan's opposition parties meanwhile have boycotted the election - as they have done for a decade. Unlike Azerbaijan's last presidential election in 2018, there have been no rallies.
Yet there has been the customary silencing of critics. A dozen journalists known for their investigative work on corruption were targeted in a wave of arrests on charges of smuggling cash, extortion and petty hooliganism.
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