Snap election in Azerbaijan: Here come the kids
Turnover has hereditary flavor.

There are no illusions that snap parliamentary elections scheduled for September in Azerbaijan will produce anything other than an overwhelming pro-presidential majority. But there are indications the voting may mark the start of a generational shift of authority in the rubber-stamp legislature.
The budding trend in generational change, however, is shaping up as hereditary in nature. According to local media reports, older and former MPs are now pushing their children for legislative seats. At least four pro-government candidates who are children of present and past MPs have been identified so far.
Normally, Azerbaijan holds its parliamentary elections in November. But this year, President Ilham Aliyev opted to move voting up to September so it would not disrupt preparations for Baku’s hosting of the COP29 environmental summit.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s two top opposition parties are taking different approaches on the parliamentary vote. The Azerbaijan Popular Front Party will be continuing its election boycott streak, making this the seventh election in a row that the party will sit out.
“We know well that we won’t come to power through a boycott,” Popular Front leader Ali Karimli told journalists. “But the question for us today is not how we will come to power. The question is, do we join the government’s masquerade of fraudulent election and play a role in it, or do we keep our conscience clean?”
The Musavat Party, on the other hand, has nominated more than 30 candidates so far. Party Chair Isa Gambar said in an interview there is no point in boycotting because, unlike past elections, there is no turnout threshold that must be cleared for the election to be declared valid. “Even if only five or 10 people show up [to vote], the election will be considered as held,” he said.
Azerbaijan’s parliament has 125 seats, 11 of which have been vacant for varying periods.
Elections in Azerbaijan have routinely been marred by irregularities, according to watchdog groups. The last legislative elections in 2020 produced a large pro-presidential majority, but it also yielded a minor surprise: the Central Election Committee invalidated the results in four electoral districts, citing fraud. The invalidations came after Aliyev spoke publicly about a need to clean up Azerbaijan’s reputation for dirty elections. “We don’t want any violations,” Aliyev said. “Those who committed violations should receive their punishment so that such situations do not happen in the future.”
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