Political system of Azerbaijan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The political system of Azerbaijan has been shaped by the authoritarian leadership style of the Azerbaijani presidents and undermined by corruption since 1992 . The oil-rich country has been independent from the Soviet Union since October 18, 1991 . According to the 1995 Constitution , Azerbaijan is a republic with a presidential system of government , but also holds the office of Prime Minister .

The institutions and the distribution of tasks are regulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan . The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan monitors compliance with the constitution . The national assembly (unicameral parliament) exercises the legislative power .

In the Democracy Index of the Year 2019 by the magazine The Economist Azerbaijan is world ranked 146 of 167 countries and is one of the authoritarian regimes . The classification is confirmed by political science measurements such as the Polity IV Index and the Bertelsmann Transformation Index .

Political history

Azerbaijan gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1918 and established itself as the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic . A parliament was established and women's rights were strengthened. The ethnic minorities of Russians , Jews , Germans, and even Armenians received seats in the Azerbaijani parliament. From 1921 to 1991 Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union (from 1936 a separate union republic, the Azerbaijani SSR ) and was ruled by the Communist Party . The declaration of sovereignty followed on September 23, 1989, followed by independence in 1991.

Constitution

The Azerbaijani Constitution was passed by referendum on November 12, 1995. It defines Azerbaijan as a republic with a presidential system and has a fairly comprehensive catalog of human rights . There is also a constitutional court for constitutional complaints. The constitution was last amended in 2002. State power is organized on the basis of the principle of separation of powers .

Institutions

Head of state

The head of state of the country is the president . He has extensive executive powers and, following a constitutional referendum in 2016, is directly elected for seven years (previously five) in a general election. Since 2009, the presidential term of office is no longer limited to two terms and can be extended to the end of these operations in times of undefined military operations . The president appoints the government and the prime minister. To this end, he has the right to initiate legislation and can issue statutory ordinances. The incumbent has been İlham Əliyev since October 2003 . He succeeded his father, Heydər Əliyev . With the constitutional referendum in 2016, the office of Vice-President was established. This office is intended to ensure presidential power and the continuation of official business if the president is unable to do so. In February 2017, İlham Əliyev's wife Mehriban Əliyeva took over this position . The Presidential Office of Azerbaijan reports to the President .

government

The government of Azerbaijan is chaired by the Prime Minister . The head of government is the prime minister, currently it is Artur Rasizada . The Azerbaijani Prime Minister is also the representative of the President. The government is solely responsible to the president. The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister is currently Elmar Məmmədyarov .

houses of Parliament

125 members are elected to the National Assembly on the basis of the majority system and by general, equal and direct elections in free, personal and secret ballot for five years. One seat is reserved for representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh constituency . Parliament can be dissolved by the President, who is not responsible to Parliament.

Since the November 2005 elections, parliament has been dominated by President İlham liyev's New Azerbaijan party . The President of the Parliament is Oqtay Asadov , his representatives are the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ziyafat Askerov and the two Deputy Speakers of Parliament Bachar Muradova and Valeh Aleskerov .

jurisdiction

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan is the highest judicial body in the country and has the right of initiative.

The Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan was established on July 4th, 1998. It consists of nine judges. The Azerbaijani Constitutional Court can dismiss the president for serious misconduct. It did not recognize the election result of the 2005 general election in ten constituencies. Citizens of the country also have the option of filing individual lawsuits.

Like the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, the judges of the Commercial Court are appointed by the President through the right of nomination.

The country of Azerbaijan has a multi-party system . The current ruling party is the New Azerbaijan Party , which is a successor party to the former Communist Party of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic . The main opposition parties are the Azerbaijani Hope Party and the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (Reform Wing), chaired by Ali Karimli. The oldest party in Azerbaijan is the Müsawat Party . Its chairman is Isa Gambar . Another representative of the multi-party system is Etibar Mammadov's National Independence Party ( Istiklal ). In contrast, the communist parties, such as the Azerbaijani Communist Party , exist as advocates of communism .

elections

The first and only democratic election in the history of Azerbaijan since 1989 was the presidential election of 1992. In this election Əbülfəz Elçibəy won the election. His predecessor was Ayaz Mütallibow . All elections that have taken place since Heydər Əliyev came to power are considered more or less rigged.

Local elections were held for the first time in late 1999; the last local elections were held on December 17, 2004.

The parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan in 2005 on November 6, 2005 did not meet international standards, according to the OSCE election observation mission. The re-elections on May 13, 2006 did not meet international standards either. The New Azerbaijan presidential party won both elections .
Parliament was re-elected on November 7, 2010, and YAP Vice President Ali Ahmedow announced shortly after the election that the party had won. Opposition and human rights organizations reported irregularities.

The presidential election in Azerbaijan in 2008 was also boycotted by the opposition due to obstruction during the election campaign.

In 1918, when Azerbaijan first gained independence as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic , women were given the right to vote and stand for election . This was maintained under Soviet administration and confirmed when it regained independence in 1991.

administration

Administrative division of Azerbaijan, in green the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh

The Republic of Azerbaijan is a central state. It is administratively divided into 59 rayons ( Rayonlar ), 1 Autonomous Republic (Muxtar Respublika) , and 11 cities ( Şəhərlər ). The heads of administration of the 78 rayons are appointed by the President.

The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic has its own constitution, its own government and its own parliament. It is again divided into 7 rayons and a city.

military

The commander in chief of the military is the president. There is no right to refuse military service . The military service takes 1.5 years for graduates one year.

Reform approaches

When Azerbaijan became independent, numerous reforms were carried out. Azerbaijan became an officially secular state based on the Turkish model, and with Turkish help, the military was modernized and a formally democratic state was established. However, since Heydər Əliyev's presidency and the presidency of his son İlham Əliyev, the trend towards an authoritarian state has increased.

The opposition in Azerbaijan often criticizes the western industrialized countries because, out of concern about energy shortages in their own countries (Azerbaijan is a major oil exporter ), they did not put enough pressure on the government in Baku to promote democratization in Azerbaijan. The party leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan , Əli Kərimli , said: As long as there is no democracy in Azerbaijan, the long-term interests of Europe and the USA cannot be guaranteed .

See also

literature

  • Farid Guliyev: Post-Soviet Azerbaijan: Transition to Sultanistic Semiauthoritarianism? An Attempt at Conceptualization. In: Demokratizatsiya. 13, no. 3, 2005, pp 393-435 ( demokratizatsiya.org PDF).
  • Brett Forrest: Over A Barrel in Baku. In: Fortune . November 28, 2005, pp. 54-60.
  • Bahodir Sidikov: Azerbaijan - Power poker for petrodollars. In: Marie-Carin von Gumppenberg, Udo Steinbach (ed.): The Caucasus. History - culture - politics. Munich 2008, pp. 49-63.
  • Ismail Küpel: Stabilizing Authoritarian Rule: The Azerbaijan Case Study . University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 2010 ( duepublico.uni-duisburg-essen.de ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Azərbaycan Respublikası Konstitusiya Məhkəməsi. Retrieved March 1, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Article 81. № 00, Baku November 12, 1995.
  3. ↑ Democracy-Index 2019 Overview chart with comparative values ​​to previous years , on economist.com
  4. ↑ Ismail Küpeli: Stabilization of Authoritarian Rule: The Azerbaijan Case Study. University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 2010, p. 24.
    More detailed: Gert Pickel: A comparative analysis of the quality of democracies in Eastern Europe and in the Caucasian region. In: Gert Pickel, Susanne Pickel (Ed.): Democratization in an international comparison. New insights and perspectives. Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 111-134.
  5. ↑ a b Information about Azerbaijan
  6. ↑ Fundamental and Freedom Rights in Azerbaijan
  7. ↑ Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Article 7. № 00, Baku November 12, 1995.
  8. ↑ a b Foreign Office: Political Development of Azerbaijan
  9. ↑ a b Foreign Office: Structure of the State in Azerbaijan
  10. ^ Occupation of the office of Vice President with Mehriban Aliyev - article on tagesschau.de; accessed on February 21, 2017
  11. ↑ Information from the Foreign Office on Azerbaijan's foreign policy
  12. ↑ Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Articles 82, 83. № 00, Baku November 12, 1995.
  13. ↑ Foreign Office: Control Bodies of Azerbaijan
  14. ↑ Ismail Küpeli: Stabilization of Authoritarian Rule: The Azerbaijan Case Study. University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 2010, pp. 33–39
    Freedom House: Freedom in the World. New York 2008, pp. 57-59.
  15. ↑ Azerbaijan: Government regards itself as election winner. In: news.orf.at. November 7, 2010, accessed November 23, 2017 .
  16. ↑ a b morning mail: Election in Azerbaijan
  17. ↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. Retrieved September 29, 2018 .