Despite an opposition boycott, official data claims that Azerbaijani voters have turned out in sufficient numbers to validate a controversial March 18 referendum that would provide an option for extending presidential terms of office, among other constitutional changes.

The government controlled Central Election Commission (CEC) maintained that more than 65 percent of Azerbaijan’s roughly 4.9 million registered voters took part in the vote by the time the country’s 5,367 polling stations closed at 7pm. A 25-percent showing was required to validate the vote.

The CEC figures are, however, disputed by opposition parties, presenting figures indicating that no more than around 15 percent of the voters actually took part in the referendum.

President Aliyev won a second five-year term in October 2008 polls that were boycotted by the opposition. He succeeded his father, a former Soviet-era communist party official who served as president from 1993 until his death in 2003.

The president's critics insist that lifting term limits will essentially make Mr. Aliyev president for life. Opponents have also accused the United States and Europe of ignoring recent political and media restrictions imposed by the Aliyev government, for fear of losing access to the country's vast energy reserves.