ArmInfo. Ilham Aliyev failed to "rejuvenate" the parliament. In any case, the results of the extraordinary parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan testify to this. Member of Parliament at National Assembly of Republic of Armenia, Expert in Azerbaijani studies Tatevik Hayrapetyan expressed such an opinion at the expert discussions at the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs.
According to preliminary data of the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan, according to the results of early parliamentary elections held on February 9, the ruling New Azerbaijan party secured 69 out of 125 deputy seats. The preservation of power in the parliament by Aliyevs was possible as a result of mass falsifications and lawlessness, stuffing of ballots, merry-go-round voting, and obstruction of the work of observers. On February 10, the Musavat, ReAl and Umid parties that participated in the elections demanded the cancellation of their results, stating major falsifications.
"Out of the 125 Azerbaijani MPs, 80 retained their mandates. Thus, only 45 new people appeared in parliament. 25 of them are in the Yeni Azerbaijan faction, with only 12 parliamentarians under the age of 40. Thus, we have to state the complete failure of the government's version explaining the need for holding early parliamentary elections by the need to rejuvenate the parliament, "the expert emphasized.
In this light, Hayrapetyan supposes that the representatives of the Nakhichevan clan simply let Ilham Aliyev down, in one way or another, participating in the formation of proportional lists of the parties running in the elections. Moreover, both the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and the parties considered to be the opposition. At the same time, according to her estimates, there are no real opposition forces in the new, as well as the previous parliaments.
According to the expert's estimates, the position of Mehriban Aliyeva in the ruling elite is gradually strengthening. However, this process is not so easy for the Aliyev family as it seems at first glance. According to her estimates, today the struggle for the redistribution of resources continues in Azerbaijan. "Nevertheless, there is no serious protest potential that could pose a threat to the current government in Azerbaijani society. Aliyev may face difficulties created exclusively within the power elite. People are still dissatisfied with the ongoing process of redistributing resources," Hayrapetyan summed up.