Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev was inaugurated for a record fifth term on Wednesday after securing a landslide election victory last week.
Farhad Abdullayev, the head of Azerbaijan’s Constitutional Court, invited Aliyev to take the oath of office in the National Assembly after the court officially confirmed his victory in last week’s snap polls, Azerbaijan’s presidency said in a statement.
The statement said Aliyev took the oath by placing his hand on the country’s Constitution, swearing to abide by it while executing his powers, as well as to "protect the state’s independence and territorial integrity, and serve the people with dignity."
Aliyev then placed his hand on the Quran, the Islamic holy book, indicating that he will "remain loyal to and respect national and moral values and traditions that have been created by the people of Azerbaijan for centuries."
Azerbaijan is officially a secular state with a Muslim-majority population.
Aliyev won the fifth term last week in the snap presidential elections, receiving over 93% of the votes.
Aliyev's closest competitor, independent candidate Zahid Oruj, received a mere 1.8%.
Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission later declared that 4.97 million people participated in the election, which means a 76.73% voter turnout.
About 6.5 million citizens were eligible to vote, including those based abroad.
