Decision to dissolve Azerbaijani parliament approved amid criticism of local analysts

The Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan approved the decision of the Milli Majlis [the parliament of Azerbaijan] to recommend the President to dissolve the legislative body and announce early parliamentary elections.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 28, the political council of the ruling "New Azerbaijan Party" (YAP) voiced the initiative to dissolve the parliament and hold early elections to the National Assembly. Ali Akhmedov, the party's executive secretary, has explained that updating the National Assembly is needed to support "the reforms implemented by President Ilham Aliev." Early elections will severely limit the opposition's chances to enter the Parliament and only strengthen the "family rule" in Azerbaijan, the analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have predicted.

Today, following a discussion of the Azerbaijani President's request, the plenary session of the Azerbaijani Constitutional Court has found that the resolution of the National Assembly to recommend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev to dissolve the legislative body and announce early parliamentary elections complies with the Constitution of Azerbaijan.

The analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" questioned the legality of the decision pronounced by the Azerbaijani Constitutional Court.

"There was no logic in the decision made by the parliament. If MPs claim that they are not able to adequately support the President's reforms and continue their legislative activities, then how could they adopt the 2020 budget and a number of important amendments to the Tax Code on the eve of the actual self-dissolution? The arguments for dissolution of the parliament are not clear. And the parliament's resolution also does not comply with the law," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Anar Mamedli, the chair of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS).

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 4, 2019 at 05:11 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.