Azerbaijan to Hold Early Parliamentary Elections in September
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called for snap parliamentary elections to take place on Sept. 1, two months earlier than the upcoming vote was due to be held....
Facts
- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called for snap parliamentary elections to take place on Sept. 1, two months earlier than the upcoming vote was due to be held.1
- This comes as he signed an order to dissolve the sixth convocation of the country's parliament, known as the Milli Majlis, and set snap elections.2
- The elections for the 125-seat assembly were advanced because the oil and gas-rich country that supplies fossil fuel to the EU will host the UN World Climate Summit (COP29) in November.3
- On Thursday, the Constitutional Court approved the change despite opposition parties standing against the proposal, which aims to avoid holding the elections during the COP29, scheduled from Nov. 11 to 22.4
- Aliyev's New Azerbaijan Party currently holds 69 of 125 seats in the outgoing parliament and is expected to win a fresh majority in the new parliament.5
- Last February, Aliyev won a fifth presidential term with over 92% of the votes in a snap election initially set not to be held until 2025, further extending his time in office after heading the nation for more than two decades.4
Sources: 1Interfax, 2Azertag, 3Daily Sabah, 4Al Jazeera and 5Reuters.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by Trend.Az. The call for a snap election was widely expected and should not come as much of a surprise to anyone. It would likely be very complicated to hold large elections like this one at the same time the country hosts a major international event. By moving the elections up two months, the country can give its full attention to both. This makes the most sense.
- Narrative B, as provided by Turan.Az. It doesn't matter if Azerbaijan is hosting COP29 or any other major international summit; the Basic Law should always guide key decisions, not political assessments. And the order to dissolve the National Assembly and call for snap elections is unconstitutional because none of the conditions under which that can happen are present at the moment.
