Presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan on 15 October 2003. As expected, Ilham Aliyev, son of the outgoing president, Heydar Aliyev, was officially elected with an overwhelming majority in a vote international observers deemed to be not to be free or fair.

Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev is an Azerbaijani politician who is the fourth and current president of Azerbaijan. The son and second child of former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev, Aliyev became the country's president on 31 October 2003, after a two-month term as prime minister of Azerbaijan, through a presidential election defined by irregularities shortly before his father's death. He was reelected for a second term in 2008 and was allowed to run in elections indefinitely in 2013 and 2018 due to the 2009 constitutional referendum, which removed term limits for presidents. Throughout his electoral campaign, Aliyev was a member of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, which he has headed since 2005.