Bad intentions of the authorities…

After the entry into force of the law ”On Political Parties", parties were given a certain period for submitting lists of 5,000 members in order to include them in the register of the Ministry of Justice. Parties whose 5,000 members were not included in the register will be dissolved by court decision in accordance with the law. To date, 27 political parties have submitted lists of their members to the Ministry of Justice in order to fulfill the requirement of the law.

After the parties submitted lists of their members to the Ministry of Justice,  the Ministry  started calling the party members,  asked questions, and this  caused widespread discussions on social networks.

Is it legal to conduct a telephone survey of citizens about their party affiliation?

Mirali Huseynov, Chairman of the Public Association for the Study of Democracy, answers this and other questions of ASTNA.

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Question: Is a phone call by the Ministry of Justice to persons whose names are in the lists submitted by political parties a correct step from the point of view of law? What does the Constitution, law, legislation, international conventions to which Azerbaijan has joined say about this?

Answer: Phone calls to party members to clarify their party affiliation were practiced by the Ministry of Justice quite often. It is possible that other methods were used when checking the lists. However, there is no official information on this issue, so we cannot express a specific opinion. And since there are no clear instructions in the legislation regarding the methods of checking the lists of members, the authorized body also has freedom of choice. However, this freedom should not go beyond the law.

From a legal point of view, it is somewhat debatable whether it is a violation of the law to check membership lists using phone calls. According to the European Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, information related to political views is considered a special category of information, and its disclosure cannot be allowed without the application of security rules in a special legal field.

In accordance with the European Convention for the Protection of Natural Persons concerning the automatic processing of personal data, information related to political views is considered a special category of information, and its detection cannot be allowed in accordance with the procedure established by special legal frameworks, without the application of security rules. A number of local legislative acts, in particular the laws “On Personal Data,” “On Political Parties,” “On Access to information,” provide certain requirements for information about membership in political parties or political beliefs. But I do not think that there is a definite connection between them and the specification of data for these purposes and that checking membership by phone calls is a violation of the law. However, if the phone call was made with the intention to put pressure on a member of a political party, if the rhetoric or the requested information is inadequate, this is clearly a violation of the law.

In general, clarifying data using phone calls as a method does not meet the standards of the modern era. It is known that information about a person is available in electronic resources related to the government and it can be easily used to clarify information. In the presence of such a large number of resources and technologies, clarification by calling raises some doubts.

Question: What is the main purpose of these calls?

Answer: Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the purpose of the calls was really to clarify the data. Perhaps there really were no other intentions and this method was considered more reasonable and acceptable. However, the attitude of the authorities towards political parties and the existing practice suggest that other unpleasant intentions are possible. By calling people, they make it clear that certain authorities know about their membership in a political party, or they are hinted at. That is, it is possible that the goal is to force people to refrain from participating in the activities of political parties.

Question: We often hear about harassment and pressure on representatives of opposition parties. In this case, won't the representatives of the opposition parties be afraid of pressure and persecution and beware of these calls? Won't they deny their party affiliation? By the way, such examples already exist.

Answer: This was quite expected, and it was also expected that the new political relations would affect the parties and reduce the number of their members. In the new system of relations, the dissolution of parties will accelerate and the process will cover a larger number of parties. But I think that along with those parties that support the authorities, there are several parties that have stood the test of time and have a stable base, which, no matter what, will continue to exist.

Question: How was it really supposed to be? What does foreign practice say about the register and confirmation of membership in the party?

Answer: The new law "On Political Parties" and so many unnecessary restrictions generated by this law were by no means necessary. The restriction of political space is in no way compatible with the challenges of the modern world and the interests of Azerbaijan. In a State where people who cooperate with the Council of Europe and other democratic institutions of the world and are committed to democratic values live, the system of political relations should correspond to their desires. And these desires are multiparty, pluralism, freedom. This was expressed not only by the people, but also by the government itself, by joining the relevant international conventions and making commitments. No international document sets such ugly requirements for political parties. Not only does it not establish, but, on the contrary, contrary to all this, it requires for the unification of people, in accordance with their desires, greater freedoms and a favorable legal environment and a favorable environment for activity. And with the new law "On Political Parties" we are moving away from all these values and requirements. Detachment from the democratic world and an ironic attitude to democratic values in no way meets our interests and does not promise us a good future.