The Azerbaijan national flag is displayed in the voting station. (Photos: Ren Qi)

A parliamentary election is being held in Azerbaijan on Sunday after the legislature was dissolved by a presidential decree.

The National Assembly of Azerbaijan, or Milli Majlis, is holding snap polls for the first time in the country's history.

With the initiative of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP), a proposal to dissolve the parliament was discussed last on Dec 2 and passed in the assembly.

State officials had earlier announced the snap polls would help modernize the country's legislative branch and speed up economic reforms.

According to Chairman of Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan MazahirPanahov, over 1,300 registered candidates from about 20 political parties are competing in the run-up to 125 parliamentary seats.

A voting station in the city of Gabala is ready for the voters days before the election. 

Some 5.2 million registered voters will be able to cast their votes in over 5,500 polling stations in the country, according to the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan.

There is no overseas voting set for the upcoming elections, except for certain groups in the military and foreign service.

The elections are set to be the sixth parliamentary polls in Azerbaijan since the country re-gained its independence in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Prior to the snap election decision, a parliamentary election had been scheduled for November 2020.

Chairman of Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan MazahirPanahov introduced the election to foreign media in a briefing.