Azerbaijan's Aliyev calls snap election after Karabakh victory

FILE PHOTO: Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev attends a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow, Russia May 25, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS/File photo

(Reuters) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, riding high on a wave of support for his recapture of the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, on Thursday called an early presidential election for Feb. 7.

Aliyev, 61, was last re-elected in 2018 for a seven-year term, with a declared 86% of the vote, in a poll boycotted by major opposition parties.