Western observers from the OSCE said on Monday that Azerbaijan had failed to make any "meaningful" democratic progress in a vote that saw President Ilham Aliyev's ruling party win a strong majority.

"Yesterday's parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were characterised by a peaceful atmosphere and all opposition parties participated in the political process, but the conduct of these elections overall was not sufficient to constitute meaningful progress in the democratic development of the country," the main Western observer mission from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement.