Two opposition parties registered in Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice has officially registered two opposition parties: the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP) and the Republican Alternative Party (ReAl). Both parties have a single member of parliament in the country.

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The leader of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP) and member of the Milli Majlis (parliament), Razi Nurullayev, spoke about how the political organisation he leads received their certificate of government registration. 

 “There is a lot of positive change being made in the political situation in this country”, wrote Nurullayev in a post on his Facebook page, along with a picture of the party’s certificate of registration.

Nurullayev was elected to parliament in a snap election on 9 February, 2020.

The other registered opposition party is Republican Alternative Party (ReAl), led by the former political prisoner Ilhar Mammadov, also has a member of parliament elected in February, 2020, Erkin Gadirli.

Ilhar Mammadov was arrested on 4 February 2013 on charges of “organising mass protests” in the Ismailli district of Azerbaijan. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment but conditionally released in 2018. Because of the conditional nature of his release, Mammadov could not run in the February 2020 parliamentary elections.

The European Court of Human Rights demanded the Azerbaijani government pay Mammadov 20,000 euros for depriving him of his constitutional rights and ‘offending his dignity’.