Polling stations will be opened in Nagorno-Karabakh as part of snap presidential election in Azerbaijan, Mazahir Panahov, Chairman of the country’s Central Election Commission, said Sunday, December 17.

Earlier in December, Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev called an early presidential election for February 7, 2024.

The president ordered officials to hold a “snap election” earlier than planned, according to a decree by the presidency. The vote was originally going to be held in 2025, Al Jazeera reported earlier.

Aliyev’s popularity in Azerbaijan has recently increased after the government took full control of the Karabakh region following a lightning rout of ethnic Armenian forces. The vote is expected to extend the decades-long rule of his family.