Exit polls show President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev achieving 93.9% support, rising to nearly 100% in Karabakh, Report informs citing an article on Euronews.

The contest is the first held since Azerbaijan liberated its previously occupied lands and took control of the entire sovereign territory of the country.

"Turnout was strong, with election officials saying more than 70% of eligible voters cast ballots during the first nine hours of voting," the article says noting that the victory in Nagorno-Karabakh last year has notably raised the level of public support he enjoys.

In an interview with Euronews, Hikmat Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan - Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration, noted that after the end of the war and ensuring its territorial integrity, the country is entering a new stage of its development.

He noted that there is currently a historical chance for a peaceful transformation of Karabakh and implementation of an ultimate goal of signing a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan and normalizing the relations between the two countries.

"As such, it could also have an effect for wider tranformation of the region of the South Caucasus," Hikmat Hajiyev said.

He said after the election, Azerbaijan enters a new stage of its social, economic and political development.

"Once Azerbaijan's territorial integrity has been ensured, now the new ambitions and new national dreams are emerging on our agenda," Hajiyev noted.

Euronews notes that Karabakh and large swathes of surrounding territory came under full control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia at the end of a separatist war in 1994.

Azerbaijan regained parts of Karabakh and most of the surrounding territory in 2020 in a six-week war, which ended with a Moscow-brokered truce.

Baku then launched the anti-terrorist operation in September 2023 "that routed separatist forces in just one day and forced them to lay down arms."

More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region after the defeat of separatist forces.