Azerbaijan to hold snap parliamentary election on Sept. 1
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday called snap legislative elections for September, a technical step to avoid the poll coinciding with the COP29 climate conference that Baku is to host later this year. Lawmakers last week asked Aliyev to dissolve the country's legislature, the Milli Majlis, and call early polls two months ahead of schedule, citing the need to avoid staging the election during the major international climate conference.
- Asia
- Reuters
- Published Date: 03:41 | 28 June 2024
- Modified Date: 03:41 | 28 June 2024
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan scheduled snap parliamentary elections for Sept. 1 in a decree published on Friday in a widely expected move that appears unlikely to radically change the parliament's make-up.
Aliyev, in power since 2003, won a snap presidential election in February, and his New Azerbaijan Party, which holds 69 of 125 seats in the outgoing parliament, is expected to win a fresh majority in the oil-rich country.
Opposition deputies in parliament are loyal to Aliyev, but some opponents outside parliament say they have faced persecution after a string of independent journalists and political activists were arrested ahead of this year's presidential election, which Aliyev won with more by 92% of the vote.
Some of those detained faced charges for what they said were politically-motivated crimes, including smuggling. The authorities said the arrests were not political.
Aliyev has touted the success of a September lightning offensive that retook the former breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh from illegitimate ethnic Armenian leaders.
Western energy firms such as BP operate in Azerbaijan, which is party to the "OPEC+" pact between the OPEC oil producers' club and other key exporters such as Russia to restrict output in order to support world prices.