Azerbaijan envies municipal elections in Turkey

Municipal elections were held in Turkey on March 31. The election race was held in 81 cities, 973 districts and 390 towns. It was announced that the main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), won 37.74 percent of the vote, and the ruling Justice and Development Party (NDP) - 35.49 percent. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also admitted that the party he leads did not get the desired result in the local government elections.

Analysts explain the omission of the AKP championship for the first time in more than 20 years, according to Erdogan, by "metal fatigue" (loss of desired strength characteristics by metal materials as a result of continuous operation) and growing economic problems in the country.

Erdogan called the elections worthy of democracy. "Through the ballot boxes, the people conveyed to us their message, their will, their warnings," the president stressed.

Municipal elections are also due to be held in Azerbaijan this year. Now many people in Azerbaijan are concerned about the question: why are competitive municipal elections not held in Azerbaijan, as in Turkey? Is this due to the lack of conditions for democratic elections in the country or the lack of interest in municipalities?

Chairman of the Public Association "Law and Development" Hafiz Hasanov told Radio Azadlig that so far not all elections in Azerbaijan have been recognized by the International Electoral Mission as democratic. He connects the absence of such a competitive election race in Azerbaijan, as in Turkey, with the status of municipalities: "In Turkey, local self-government in Public administration belongs to municipalities, and they also function as state bodies. However, in Azerbaijan, municipalities are considered non-governmental structures, their powers are general in nature, they do not have real financial reserves in connection with the exercise of these powers. Consequently, local executive authorities have more decisive powers than municipalities."

According to Hasanov, in order to increase the interest of voters, it is necessary to carry out serious reforms in the system of self-government and bring the management system in line with international standards: "with the separation of powers, local self-government should be in municipalities. Municipalities in Turkey are a municipal system with real authority, playing a key role in local government, closer to the people, in Azerbaijan it is the opposite."

However, the representative of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party in the Milli Majlis, Aydin Mirzazade, thinks otherwise. He stressed that each country has its own political system, noting that even neighboring countries with the same history have differences in the political system.

"Azerbaijan has a presidential republic, and this system has been justifying itself for many years. Turkey has had a parliamentary republic for a long time, recently they have moved to a presidential republic, but in this regard, the traditional municipal system functioned," he said in an interview with Turan.

According to Mirzazade, each of the elections in Azerbaijan is democratic, competitive and transparent: "People have the right to vote for people with a different platform. In principle, Azerbaijan has a democratic electoral environment, and we will see this again in the municipal elections later this year."

And Gulaga Aslanli, deputy head of the opposition Musavat party, links problems with elections and municipal legislation. However, he believes that the municipal elections held in Azerbaijan for the first time (1999) were more active and intense: "Apparently, people more suitable for power were subsequently elected to municipalities."

He believes that the insufficient status of municipalities in Azerbaijan has also reduced interest in the elections.

Hasanov, in turn, recalls that representatives of the European Congress of Local and Regional Authorities have repeatedly visited Baku and voiced enough proposals: "In Turkey, the municipal system is also defined in accordance with these standards. Azerbaijan should also simply adapt to this. To do this, it is first necessary to carry out constitutional reform, since municipalities are now non-governmental bodies and have decorative powers. The reforms should define the powers of municipalities."

MP Mirzazade noted that the world is already learning from each other: "In principle, the current political system is acceptable to Azerbaijan, it justifies itself, and there is no need to make serious changes to the political system. But there are updates from time to time. For example, the appointment of special presidential representatives to the territories liberated from occupation was also a step in accordance with the requirements of the time and the development processes of these regions."

Aslanli believes that Azerbaijan, including Turkey, can learn a lot from its neighbors in connection with the elections: "Firstly, it is necessary to review the status of municipalities, secondly, metropolitan municipalities and, finally, to elect mayors separately. If the electoral legislation is improved, as in Turkey and Georgia, interest in municipalities will increase. But mayors are still appointed by the heads of the executive branch."

It was not possible to talk about this issue with the executive authorities in Azerbaijan. But they consider the accusations of election interference to be unfounded.