New ruling party to be founded in Azerbaijan – Russian website

New ruling party to be founded in Azerbaijan – Russian website

Kavkaz.memo.ru website, Moscow
16 Jun 07

A Kavkazskiy Uzel correspondent has learned that the ruling regime in
Azerbaijan is planning to set up a second governing party, which will
be called Democratic Azerbaijan.

The party will be created after the presidential election in 2008. The
authorities will campaign for two parties ahead of the next
parliamentary election.

Therefore, the New Azerbaijan Party and Democratic Azerbaijan will
share seats in parliament and posts in the government. It is also
expected that the proportional election system will be reinstated and
the number of seats in parliament will be increased.

Spin doctors of the ruling team believe that being in power permanently
makes it difficult for a party to manoeuvre politically. This gives
grounds for criticism of the party’s dominance in the government,
parliament and electoral commissions.

The new party will be made up of business people, officials who are
loyal to the authorities and other wealthy people close to the
authorities.

The New Azerbaijan Party declined to comment on this report.