Azerbaijan softens requirements in draft law "On political parties"

Amendement to law on parties

The Azerbaijani parliament has published an updated version of a draft law on political parties. The first version of the law was met with indignation by the society, and in the new version, the requirements for political parties have been relaxed. The leaders of Azerbaijani opposition parties say that despite the changes, the bill is still reactionary.

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The revised draft law eliminates a number of provisions that provoked criticism from the opposition.

Thus, according to the document, “at least fifty citizens” can act as party founders. The first version had “at least 200 citizens”.

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Another requirement, that those intending to found parties must have been resident in Azerbaijan for twenty years, has also been dome away with.

The requirement for the number of party members for state registration has been reduced to 5,000. But there is a proviso here: if the number of party members drops to fewer than 4,500 people, the party can be dissolved by a court decision.

Parties that have state registration before the adoption of the new law will be given 180 days to increase the number of their members to 5,000, otherwise the Ministry of Justice may file a lawsuit with the Court of Appeal to liquidate the political organization.

The requirement of liquidating political parties which did not participate in parliamentary and municipal elections twice consecutively has also been removed from this version of the draft law.

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The procedure for establishing the upper limit of donations made by one person to a party or parties has changed, and been set at “35 times the minimum wage”. Now is 10,500 manats [about $6,200], but in the initial version, the upper limit for donations was set at 10,000 manats [about $5,900].

Another innovation is the financing of parties that participated in the elections, but did not get into parliament. These parties will be allocated 2.5% of the amount allocated for funding from the state budget.

Membership fees and donations to parties will be exempt from taxes.

The draft law retains a prohibition of activities of political parties that do not have state registration.

Amendement to law on parties

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Politicians’ comments

In fact there is no difference between the new version of the bill and the old one, Seymour Azi, deputy chairman of the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, stated. “The document has always been and remains reactionary,” he believes.

“It is noted that the activities of political parties that do not have state registration are prohibited. This is a serious blow to the right to freedom of assembly. This means that the state specifically deprives civil society of the opportunity to unite around political activity. Because the resources for registration are in the hands of the state,” Azi said.

He added that the requirement to maintain a register of party members is designed to leave the fate of the opposition in the hands of the internal affairs bodies.

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“Not a single structure of executive power has the right to check the activities of a political party. The parties are equal political subjects, and checks in them can be carried out only after the relevant court decision,” Azi concluded.

Chairman of the National Front Party, deputy of the Milli Majlis Razi Nurullayev holds the opposite opinion, and believes the new version of the bill to be satisfactory:

“We were also among those who demanded changes to the bill. The changes have been made and I think they are quite acceptable.”

The law “On political parties”, adopted in 1992, created a sufficient legal basis for the normal activity of political parties and there was no need for a new law, said the head of the opposition Musavat party, Arif Hajili.

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“Such changes to the law by the Azerbaijani authorities are aimed at strengthening control over the parties and placing them in a position dependent on the executive branch,” he said.

In his opinion, that is why every six months the parties will be forced to report on their new members and those who left the ranks of the political organization.

“It is precisely for the purpose of strengthening control over parties that – information about those who donate funds to a political organization will be required,” Hajili added.

Amendement to law on parties