President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has signed a decree to dissolve parliament and hold an early election on the 9th of February.
Why
In December 2019, Azerbaijani Members of Parliament approved a proposal to dissolve parliament and asked President Ilham Aliyev to call a snap election.
The appeal came a month after the former Prime Minister, Novruz Mammadov, resigned without a formal explanation and was replaced by a presidential ally.
The outgoing Parliament, which is primarily composed of pro-government deputies representing President Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), backed the appeal of its own dissolution by 99 votes to one, the one being an abstention.
Azerbaijan’s Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the dissolution and in accordance with Article 98 of its constitution, which requires that a snap election be held within 60 days after the legislature is dissolved by a presidential decree.
President Ilham Aliyev May Not be a Fan of Democracy
The leader of the Eurasian nation, who has ruled for 10 years, first came into power in 2003 before his father died. Since then, he has been re-elected thrice, first in 2008, then in 2013 and, most recently, in 2018.
President Aliyev has cemented his grip on power by passing two referendums, one in 2009 that scrapped a two-term presidential limit and another in 2016 that extended the presidential term to seven years from five. In 2017, appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, the first vice president of the country, granting her powers that made the position the second most powerful post after the president.
With most powers concentrated in the presidency, parliament has limited decision-making power in the Azerbaijan political system. This can affect the outcomes of the coming elections.
He has been criticised by the international community for silencing dissenting voices and media.
How Parliamentary Elections Work in Azerbaijan
The 125 members of the National Assembly were elected in single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post system. Here, voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. There are currently 5.2 million registered voters in Azerbaijan.
In the February elections, up to 19 parties are expected to field candidates while some other parties and civic unions are forming election coalitions with independent candidates.
