Draft Law on Political Parties in Azerbaijan Softens After Criticism

| News, Azerbaijan

Based on the request of all political party representatives represented in the Azerbaijani Parliament, a new draft law "On Political Parties" has been prepared.

According to the Press and Public Relations Department of the Azerbaijani Parliament, considering the public importance of the document, public hearings were held with the participation of political parties, non-governmental organizations, political scientists, and social media representatives.

"In these hearings and public discussions, the proposals, opinions, and remarks about the draft law were taken into account," the information stated.

According to the new draft law "On Political Parties,"  part I of Article 94 of the Constitution of the document (general rules established by the Azerbaijani Parliament), 1 (use of human and civil rights and freedoms established in the Constitution, state guarantee of these rights and freedoms), and 10 (status of natural and legal entities), determine the procedure for the establishment, state registration, verification, suspension and restoration, liquidation, and organization of the political party's activities, membership, and financial support.

The updated version of the draft law has many innovations compared to the previous version. Thus, the requirements were eased in some of the criticized clauses, and some clauses were entirely removed from the document.

In the initial version of the project, a political party could be founded by at least 200 fully functional citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan (founders) who have been permanently living in the territory of Azerbaijan for the last 20 years. According to the updated version, at least 50 citizens (founders) who are fully functional in Azerbaijan will be able to establish a political party.

The provision regarding the number of party members has also been changed. So, whereas in the previous version, political parties had to have 10,000 members to be registered with the state, this number has been reduced to 5,000 in the new version. In addition, if the number of members in a state-registered political party is below 4,500, a lawsuit is filed in court to cancel the state registration of that political party. A list of political party members will be kept as well.

In the previous version of the project, the requirement to cancel political parties that did not participate in the elections twice has been eliminated in the new version.

The document states that it is not allowed to operate a political party without state registration.

According to the project, the upper limit of donations to political parties during the year cannot exceed 35 times the minimum wage (currently 10,500 manats [EUR 5934]).

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