Politics of Azerbaijan
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Template:Politics of Azerbaijan The Government of Azerbaijan consists of three branches:
- The executive branch, made up of the President, his Apparat, a Prime Minister, and the Cabinet of Ministers;
- The legislative branch, consisting of the 125-member Parliament (Milli Majlis). Members are elected for 5-year terms, with 100 of them elected from territorial districts and 25 elected from party lists; and
- The judicial branch, headed by a Constitutional Court, which is nominally independent.
Azerbaijan declared its independence from the former Soviet Union on August 30, 1991, with Ayaz Mutalibov, former First Secretary of the Azerbaijani Communist Party, becoming the country's first President. Following a massacre of Azerbaijanis at Khojali in Nagorno-Karabakh in March 1992, Mutalibov resigned and the country experienced a period of political instability. The old guard returned Mutalibov to power in May 1992, but less than a week later his efforts to suspend scheduled presidential elections and ban all political activity prompted the opposition Popular Front Party (PFP) to organize a resistance movement and take power. Among its reforms, the PFP dissolved the predominantly Communist Supreme Soviet and transferred its functions to the 50-member upper house of the legislature, the National Council.
Elections in June 1992 resulted in the selection of PFP leader Abulfez Elchibey as the country's second president. The PFP-dominated government, however, proved incapable of either credibly prosecuting the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or managing the economy, and many PFP officials came to be perceived as corrupt and incompetent. Growing discontent culminated in June 1993 in an armed insurrection in Ganja, Azerbaijan's second-largest city. As the rebels advanced virtually unopposed on Baky, President Elchibey fled to his native province of Nakhchivan. He died in 2000. The National Council conferred presidential powers upon its new Speaker, Heydar Aliyev, former First Secretary of the Azerbaijani Communist Party (1969-81) and later a member of the U.S.S.R. Politburo, the KGB, and USSR Deputy Prime Minister (until 1987). Elchibey was formally deposed by a national referendum in August 1993, and Aliyev was elected to a 5-year term as President in October with only token opposition. Aliyev won re-election to another 5-year term in 1998, in an election marred by serious irregularities.
Azerbaijan's first Parliament was elected in 1995. The present 125-member unicameral Parliament was elected in November 2000 in an election that showed improvements in democratic processes, but still did not meet international standards as free and fair. A majority of parliamentarians are from the President's "New Azerbaijan Party." Opposition parties are represented in Parliament, but are suppressed and are not totally free to campaign before elections.
Azerbaijan has a strong presidential system in which the legislative and judicial branches have only limited independence.
The president is an absolute ruler. Demonstrations are often suppressed with violence, there are reports of torture and a strong censorship enables a personality cult. The Speaker of Parliament stood next in line to the President, but the constitution was changed at the end of 2002: now the premier is next in line. This was done to make it possible for the son of the 80-year old Heydar, Ilham Aliyev to succeed his father, who was admitted to a Turkish hospital on July 8, 2003 because of heart problems. In August, 2003, Illham was appointed as premier, though Artur Rasizade, who had been prime minister since 1996, continued to fulfill the duties of that office so that Ilham could concentrate on his presidential election bid. In the October 2003 presidential elections, Ilham won a landslide victory with several rivals, but none who had the power to defeat him. He was sworn in as president at the end of the month, and Rasizade became premier again. Heydar Aliyev died on December 12, 2003.
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Summary list
Political officeholders may not be updated.
Country name:
conventional long form: Azerbaijani Republic
conventional short form: Azerbaijan
local long form: Azarbaycan Respublikasi
local short form: none
former: Aran and then Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
Data code: AJ <p>Government type: republic <p>Capital: Baku <p>Administrative divisions:
- 59 rayons (rayonlar; rayon - singular),
- 11 cities* (saharlar; sahar - singular),
- 1 autonomous republic** (muxtar respublika);
Executive branch
- chief of state
- President Ilham Aliyev (since 15 October 2003)
- head of government
- Prime Minister Artur Rasizade (26 November 1996-August 2003, since 15 October 2003)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the National Assembly
elections:
president elected by popular vote to a five-year term; election last held 15 October 2003; prime minister and first deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the National Assembly
election results:
15 October 2003
Ilham Aliyev (New Azerbaijan Party): 76.8%
Isa Gambar (Equality Party): 14.0%
Lala-Shevket Hajiyeva (National Unity Movement): 3.6%
Etibar Mamedov (Azerbaijan National Independence Party): 2.9%
Ilyas Ismayilov (Justice Party): 1.0%
- Foreign Minister: Elmar Mammadyarov
- Ambassador to the U.S: Hafiz Pashayev
- Ambassador to the UN: Yashar Aliyev
Legislative branch
unicameral National Assembly or Milli Mejlis (125 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections:
last held 5 November 2000 and 7 January 2001
election results:
New Azerbaijan Party: 75 seats
Azerbaijan Popular Front Party: 6 seats
Civil Solidarity Party: 3 seats
Azerbaijan Communist Party: 2 seats
Equality Party: 2 seats
Azerbaijan National Independence Party: 2 seats
Alliance Party for the sake of Azerbaijan: 1 seat
Social Prosperity Party: 1 seat
Motherland Party: 1 seat
Ana Vatan Party: 1 seat
Yurddash Partiyası: 1 seat
Non-partisans: 29 seats
Judicial branch
Supreme Court
Political parties and leaders
- Azerbaijan Popular Front or APF:
- Ali Karimli, leader of "Reform" faction;
- Mirmahmud Mirali-Oglu, leader of "Classic" faction
- Civic Solidarity Party or CSP: Sabir Rustamkhanly
- Civic Union Party: Ayaz Mutalibov
- Communist Party of Azerbaijan or CPA: Ramiz Ahmadov
- Compatriot Party: Mais Safarli
- Democratic Party for Azerbaijan or DPA: Rasul Quliyev, chairman
- Justice Party: Ilyas Ismailov
- Liberal Party of Azerbaijan: Lala-Shevket Hajiyeva
- Musavat: Isa Gambar, chairman
- New Azerbaijan Party or NAP: Heydar Aliyev, chairman
- Party for National Independence of Azerbaijan or PNIA: Etibar Mammadli, chairman
- Social Democratic Party of Azerbaijan or SDP: Zardust Alizade
<p>Political pressure groups and leaders: Sadval, Lezgin movement; self-proclaimed Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Republic; Talysh independence movement
Reference
- CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website
- Some of this material from a Dutch article: [1] (http://ams.wizard.pvda.nl/renderer.do/menuId/24890/sf/24637/returnPage/24890/itemId/13261/pageId/24637/instanceId/24896/)
External links
- President of the Republic (http://www.president.az)
- Constitutional Court (http://www.constitutional-court-az.org)
- Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Washington (http://www.azembassy.com)