Politics of Azerbaijan
The political system of Azerbaijan is dominated since 1992 by the authoritarian leadership style of the President of Azerbaijan and is infiltrated by corruption. The oil-rich country has been independent since 18 October, 1991 by the Soviet Union. After the 1995 Constitution, Azerbaijan is a republic with a presidential system of government, but also has the same time the Office of the Prime Minister.
On the Democracy Index in 2008 by The Economist magazine Azerbaijan is world ranked 135 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 was in 1918 by the Russian Empire independent and established himself as Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. There a parliament was established and strengthened women's rights. The ethnic minorities of Russians, Jews, Germans and even the Armenians were given seats in the Azerbaijani Parliament. From 1921 to 1991 Azerbaijan was ruled part of the Soviet Union ( 1936 to own Union Republic, the Azerbaijan SSR) and was approved by the Communist Party. On September 23, 1989 the declaration of sovereignty in 1991 followed by independence.
Constitution
The Azerbaijani Constitution was adopted on November 12, 1995 by referendum. It defines Azerbaijan as a republic with a presidential system and has a fairly comprehensive catalog of human rights. For the constitutional complaints, there is also a constitutional court. The Constitution was amended in 2002.
Institutions
Head of state
The head of state is the President. It is equipped with far-reaching executive powers and is elected directly by universal suffrage, each of five years. The term of office of the President is limited since 2009 no longer two terms and can be extended in times not defined more precisely for military operations until the end of these operations. The president appoints the government and the Prime Minister. And he has the right of legislative initiative and may adopt ordinances. Incumbent is since October 2003 Ilham Əliyev. He succeeded his father, Heydər Əliyev.
Government
The government of Azerbaijan is chaired by the Prime Minister. The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently it is Artur Rasizadä. The Azerbaijani Prime Minister is also the representative of the President. The Government shall be solely responsible to the President. The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar is currently Məmmədyarov.
Parliament
Legislative power lies with the one-chamber parliament (Milli Məclis ), which has 125 MPs (1 seat is still for representatives of the constituency Nagorno Karabakh Dagliq Qarabağ kept ) and for five years (equivalent to a legislature ) is selected. The Parliament may be dissolved by the President, which is not responsible to Parliament. The country has a majority vote.
Since the elections of November 2005, the Parliament is dominated by the New Azerbaijan Party of President Ilham Əliyev. Parliament Speaker is Oqtay Asadov, its representatives are the First Deputy Parliament Speaker Ziyafat Askerov and the two Deputy Parliament Speaker Bachar Muradova and Valeh Aleskerov.
Jurisdiction
The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan is the highest judicial body in the country and has the right of legislative initiative.
The Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan was established on July 4, 1998. It consists of nine judges. The Azerbaijani Constitutional Court may dismiss the President due to serious misconduct. It recognized the election results of the parliamentary elections in 2005 in ten constituencies to not. For the citizens of the country, there is also the possibility of individual action.
The judge of the Economic Court are appointed as the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court by the right of proposal of the President of it.
Parties
The country of Azerbaijan has a multi-party system. The current ruling party is the New Azerbaijan Party, which is a successor party of the former Communist Party of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. The main opposition parties are hoping the Azerbaijan Party and the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan is ( reform wing ), whose chairman Ali Karimli. The oldest party of Azerbaijan is the Müsawat party. Its chairman is Isa Gambar. As more representative of the multi-party system, there are still the party of national independence ( Istiklal ) of Etibar Mammadov. As an advocate of communism, however, the communist parties, such as the Azerbaijan Communist Party there.
The first and only democratic election in the history of Azerbaijan since 1989, was the presidential election of 1992. During this election Əbülfəz Elçibəy won the elections. Its predecessor was Ayaz Mütallibow. All elections that have taken place since the takeover Heydər Əliyevs are considered more or less manipulated.
Local elections were first held in late 1999, the last local elections were held on 17 December 2004.
The parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan in 2005 on 6 November 2005 corresponded to the OSCE election observation mission did not meet international standards, according. The repeat elections on 13 May 2006 did not meet international standards as well. Both won the presidential elections New Azerbaijan Party. On 7 November 2010, Parliament was re-elected, the YAP Deputy Chief Ali Ahmedow announced shortly after the deadline, that the party was victorious. Opposition and human rights organizations reported irregularities.
The presidential elections in Azerbaijan in 2008 were boycotted by the opposition on grounds of disability during the election campaign.
Management
The Republic of Azerbaijan is a centralized state. It is divided administratively into 59 districts ( Rayonlar ), one autonomous republic ( Muxtar Respublika ), and 11 cities ( Şəhərlər ). The administrative heads of the 78 rayons are appointed by the President.
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic has its own constitution, its own government and a specially Parliament. They in turn divided into 7 districts and one city.
The Commander in Chief of the military is the President. There is no conscientious objection law. Military service lasts 1.5 years, with graduates one years.
Reform approaches
When Azerbaijan gained independence, many reforms were carried out. So Azerbaijan has been an officially secular state following the Turkish model, also has been modernized with the help of Turkish military and set up a democratic state. However, intensified since the presidency Heydər Əliyev and the presidency of his son Ilham Əliyev the trend towards an authoritarian state.
The opposition in Azerbaijan often criticized the Western industrialized countries since they ( Azerbaijan is a major oil exporter ) for fear of energy shortages in their own countries not sufficiently put the government in Baku under pressure to advance democracy in Azerbaijan. The 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 United States can not be ensured.