President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan scheduled snap parliamentary elections for Sept. 1 in a decree published on Friday in a widely expected move that appears unlikely to radically change the parliament's make-up.
Aliyev, in power since 2003, won a snap presidential election in February, and his New Azerbaijan Party, which holds 69 of 125 seats in the outgoing parliament, is expected to win a fresh majority in the oil-rich country.
Opposition deputies in parliament are loyal to Aliyev, but some opponents outside parliament say they have faced persecution after a string of independent journalists and political activists were arrested ahead of this year's presidential election, which Aliyev won with more by 92% of the vote.
Some of those detained faced charges for what they said were politically-motivated crimes, including smuggling. The authorities said the arrests were not political.
Aliyev has touted the success of a September lightning offensive that retook the former breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh from illegitimate ethnic Armenian leaders.
Western energy firms such as BP operate in Azerbaijan, which is party to the "OPEC+" pact between the OPEC oil producers' club and other key exporters such as Russia to restrict output in order to support world prices.
