Referendum and early elections are not excluded

Baku/09.08.21/Turan: The media and social networks have been publishing information for a long time that a referendum on constitutional reform will take place soon, after which the parliament will be dissolved, early parliamentary elections will be held, which, as before, will be held by both majority and proportional systems.

This topic has become so actively discussed in the media and social networks that about 50 deputies of the Milli Mejlis decided to speak out on this matter. They stated that these rumors were groundless and that there was no need to dissolve parliament.

Such a violent reaction of the deputies aroused mistrust and, therefore, even greater excitement among the society. Because, before the dissolution of parliament in December 2019, there were the same rumors, and many MPs then denied this information.

Is a referendum and early elections possible in the near future? Election expert Mirali Huseynov answered these and other questions in the "Difficult Question" program.

According to him, the source of these rumors is unknown, since political processes in Azerbaijan are taking place behind closed doors. However, in this way, in our country, information about these processes becomes public knowledge.

“Several years ago we all witnessed how rumors began to spread about the upcoming early parliamentary elections. The authorities categorically denied these rumors. In 2016, when the Constitutional referendum was held, and among the amendments submitted for the poll there were, in particular, such questions as:

- vesting the president with the right to dissolve the Milli Majlis and announce early presidential elections;

- granting the citizens of the country the right to be elected to parliament not from the age of 25, as before, but from the age of 18.

Then no one had any doubts that the president intends to take advantage of these amendments and that there will be early parliamentary elections. It's the same now ... "

The expert recalled that immediately after summing up the results of the early elections in 2020, rumors spread that the current composition of the parliament is transitional, i.e. in a year or two, there will be another early elections. Therefore, he did not rule out the likelihood of a second early election.

According to Mirali Huseynov, the ongoing processes in the region may induce the authorities to change the electoral system, i.e. they should be carried out not according to the majority system, but according to the mixed system (according to both the majority and proportional). “Moreover, against the background of the transition of Georgia and Armenia from the model of a presidential republic to a more democratic model of government, which is a parliamentary republic, a transition to a parliamentary republic is possible,” the expert suggested.  –0--