No force would dare to say, "I will create economic interest groups within the branches of power"

On September 16, the Central Election Commission (CEC) submitted the protocols of the extraordinary parliamentary elections to the Constitutional Court. Although there were many complaints regarding the election process, the CEC did not affect the results in any constituency but annulled the results in more than 40 polling stations overall. The commission declared that the elections were conducted at a high level. However, several opposition forces stated that the elections were conducted based on pre-prepared lists.

In previous elections in Azerbaijan, claims were also made that "deputies were appointed based on lists." At the same time, it was said that representatives of various internal factions within the government were also present in the parliament. How is it this time? Are there factions among the leading candidates?

Zahid Oruj, a deputy of the VI convocation of the Milli Majlis (National Assembly), told Turan that it is very wrong to assess the parliament of the Victory Era using the lexicon of the 1990s and especially the 2000s: "Those who spread such versions on information platforms are somewhat outdated forces. Perhaps if they made use of new expressions and analyses, they could find unique arguments for criticism."

According to Z. Oruj, portraying the parliament as being divided according to the interests of oligarchs or any factions within the government and representing opposing sides' interests is very mistaken: "I think it is simply inconceivable that, under the leadership of the head of state, who won the Patriotic War, someone could place people in the branches of power who are subordinate to local political interests, carrying out such autonomous struggles."

The deputy also noted that in this year's presidential election, the people expressed very high trust in President Ilham Aliyev: "Against this background, no force would dare to say, 'I will create economic interest groups within the branches of power, I will have my political carriers, and they will protect my interests, not the political line of the supreme leader.'"

In his opinion, it is wrong to generalize some minor legal violation and present it as public distrust toward the Milli Majlis, where diplomats, economists, and politicians are gathered: "In the last 16 days, the media has mainly presented the positions of those who lost in the parliamentary elections. Some of them hold this position because they were not on the ruling party's list, and others are alternative forces who left the officially allocated venues for campaign activities empty, did not go to the people, but have long said that if we were given Victory Square or Freedom Square, we would resolve the fate of the government in a day. For the first time in Azerbaijan, all candidates did not go before the people with the topics of Karabakh, occupation, and land. A historic opportunity has arisen to form a new agenda."

Z. Oruj emphasized that in his inauguration speech, President Ilham Aliyev stated that pressure and influence on Azerbaijan would increase: "This is a very important message. All government bodies and think tanks must calculate from where these influences will increase on us. We are already seeing real examples of this. There are 4-5 important regional and international issues that will be the most important demand placed upon the parliament, which will hold its first session in the coming days. If someone within the parliament does not fulfill this interest and demand, society will see it. In the future, the ruling party will not give those forces another chance."

Political commentator Nasimi Mammadli also told Radio Azadliq that he does not believe that various groups are represented in the current Azerbaijani parliament: "The Azerbaijani government is quite monolithic, and only individuals serving the interests of the ruling family can be represented in the parliament."

According to him, in the past, representatives of both social groups and clans were present in the parliament: "But in recent years, the Milli Majlis has been unequivocally formed only based on a list determined by the ruling family. Therefore, I do not believe that any groups are represented to serve their special interests."

The expert noted that 70 percent of the new parliament's composition will consist of members from the previous composition: "88 members remain from the previous group. This is a rather large number. Unfortunately, today the political influence of the supreme executive power on the Milli Majlis is so strong that society has no positive expectations from either the old or the new parliament."

In its preliminary report on the early parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan on September 1, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights emphasized that the existing conditions did not allow the elections to be conducted in accordance with democratic standards. However, the CEC believes that the elections were held at a high level. Now, according to the law, the Constitutional Court must complete the process of verifying and approving the final results of the Milli Majlis elections within 10 days after receiving the relevant documents.