Azerbaijan kicks off presidential election

BAKU - Azerbaijan went to the polls Wednesday to elect a president for the next seven years.

The Central Election Commission said voting is being conducted at 5,641 polling stations in 125 constituencies.

Over 5,300,000 voters will choose from among eight candidates, including incumbent President Ilham Aliyev of the New Azerbaijan Party.

Nearly 900 international observers and over 58,000 local observers are monitoring the election, which ends at 7:00 pm (1500 GMT).