This offensive led to the end of the Republic of Artsakh, which was an Armenian-led breakaway state, and Azerbaijan gaining full control over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

[9][10] Furthermore, several candidates featured on the ballot had previously expressed public admiration for Aliyev, resulting in the absence of opposition contenders amidst the crackdown on independent media and journalists.

[11][12][13][14][15] In addition to the aftermath of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its future implications, the election campaign unfolded against a backdrop of broader geopolitical tensions in the region.

[16][17] Domestic issues such as economic stagnation, rising social inequalities, and concerns about democratic governance were also prominent themes in the election discourse.

Observers noted that although election preparations were executed efficiently and competently, genuine pluralism was lacking, with critical viewpoints consistently suppressed.

[19][20] The previous 2018 presidential election was held months ahead of schedule which saw the re-election of long-time authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev, in power since 2003, securing a fourth consecutive term in office after obtaining 86% of the vote.

[25] The parliamentary election campaign, initially offering a glimmer of political change,[26] nevertheless saw Aliyev's ruling New Azerbaijan Party retaining a majority of deputy seats.

[28][29][30] The Azerbaijani government also introduced a series of anti-crisis packages that were aimed at relieving the economic impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic,[31] to which the emergency aid was later criticized for allegedly having citizens struggling to obtain it.

[33][34] In July 2020, border clashes took place between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, sparking massive pro-war protests in Azerbaijan which became increasingly grew following the deaths of military officers Polad Hashimov and Ilgar Mirzayev.

[35][36][37] The demonstrations in Baku, leading to the storming of the Parliament building and clashes with the security forces, had profound impact on Azerbaijan's foreign policy as its believed to have been one of the causing factors that led to the following outbreak of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in September 2020.

From December 2022, Azerbaijan enforced a blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, sparking a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh as the region grappled with the shortages of medication, food and fuel.

[51] On 7 December 2023, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree in setting Wednesday, 7 February 2024, as a date for an early presidential election to be held.

"[58] Other analysts suggested the reasoning factor behind an early presidential election was due to Aliyev's attempt to take advantage of his high popularity following Azerbaijani's successful seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh.

[60] Opposition leader Ali Karimli assessed that a snap presidential election indicated Aliyev's desire to hold polls "in isolation from the democratic world" and fear of a change in the current "minimal political competition", where he speculated that Aliyev wanted to secure another seven-year presidential term before a potential Russian defeat in the Russo-Ukrainian War which could according to his theory "upend the regional geopolitical situation to authoritarians' disfavor.

[64] Under a case of the war, the presidential term must be extended until the end of military operation, for which the decision on this matter must be adopted by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the basis of the application of the state body organizing elections (referendum).

[81] The Central Election Commission has allocated a total of 278 permanent meeting places, 139 of which are open and 139 are closed, for the pre-election campaign of presidential candidates.

[112] On 21 December 2023, presidential candidate Qüdrat Hasanguliyev (Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party) announced several provisions from his pre-election campaign platform to the press.

If elected as president, Hasanguliyev pledged to change Azerbaijan's official name to the "Northern Azerbaijan Republic" through a constitutional referendum, combine the state bodies of the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General into the State Investigative Committee, divide the country into 15 administrative units and establish 31-member assemblies which will be formed by the votes of the residents of those administrative units, increasing workers' salaries, reduce the Azerbaijani military service period to six months, and introduce a cash payment system for exemption from premiums, as well as establish "child allowance" payments.

[114] Canvassing under his election slogan "Justice, Law, Democracy" (Azerbaijani: Ədalət, Hüquq, Demokratiya), Hasanguliyev held a meeting with voters in Sumgait on 17 January 2024.

[115] On 9 January 2024, Zahid Oruj's campaign headquarters announced his election platform titled 4th Republic — 100 years of Azerbaijan's victory (Azerbaijani: 4-cü Respublika — Azərbaycanın qalib 100 ili).

[124] A long-term mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) consisting of 26 people will observe the 2024 presidential election.

[135] Following the vote, OSCE monitors told a news conference in Baku that the election was “not competitive” and “was held in a restrictive environment”, adding that “recent arrests of critical journalists have hindered the media from operating freely”.

According to the information provided by the CEC on 19 September 2023, electoral districts in Azerbaijan were reorganized whilst taking into account the norm of voter representation.

[140] During the CEC meeting on 16 December 2023, chairman Mazahir Panahov announced that elections would be held in the "liberated" city of Khankendi (formerly Stepanakert) for the first time under Azerbaijani control and that a newly-formed polling station will be located in the administrative building of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Province Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan.

[149] Thus, a total of 6,524,203 paper ballots will be printed for the upcoming election, which will include the presidential candidates' last name, first name, and middle name arranged in alphabetical order.

[151] The CEC along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked on assisting Azerbaijani citizens to vote overseas, with Panahov encouraging voters to register in the closest Azerbaijan's diplomatic missions.

Additionally, polling stations have been set up in various countries including Italy, South Korea, Kazakhstan (in cities such as Astana, Almaty, and Aktau), Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates (including in Abu Dhabi and Dubai), the United Kingdom, China, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia (in Tbilisi and Batumi), Jordan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (in Bern), the Netherlands, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Poland, Germany, the United States (in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles), Austria, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Greece, Iran (in Tehran and Tabriz), Belarus, Moldova, Hungary, and Romania.

The party proposed a re-run of presidential elections that genuinely reflect "the free will of the Azerbaijani people and adhere to international standards".

He was congratulated by the presidents of Turkey,[174] Uzbekistan,[175] Kazakhstan,[176] Kyrgyzstan,[177] Turkmenistan[178] and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán,[179] the member and observers of the Organization of Turkic States.

[161] Aliyev also received congratulations from various Turkish politicians, including Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu,[203] Numan Kurtulmuş, speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey,[204] Vice President Fuat Oktay,[205] Ömer Çelik, the spokesman for the Presidential Administration,[206] and Sinan Oğan, a far-right candidate in the 2023 Turkish presidential election.