Azerbaijan's governing party retains dominance in parliament

BAKU -- Azerbaijan's ruling New Azerbaijan Party won the most seats in the country's parliament in a snap election on Sunday, Mazahir Panakhov, the Central Election Commission head said early on Monday after counting the results from about 5,895 polling stations.

Preliminary results suggest that candidates from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party won about 68 of 125 seats in the single-chamber parliament, based on 91 percent of the vote count.

A host of small parties and independents took almost all the rest.

The voter turnout was 37.27 percent.