New Azerbaijan Party

New Azerbaijan Party
Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası
Leader Ilham Aliyev
(since 31 October 2003)
Founder Heydar Aliyev
Founded 18 December 1992 (1992-12-18)
Headquarters Bülbül prospekti 13,
Baku, Azerbaijan
Ideology Azerbaijani nationalism[1]
Secularism[1]
Conservatism[2]
Statism[1]
Political position Big tent[3]
(of Right-wing)
Colours Blue, yellow, white
Parliament:
69 / 125
Website
Official Web Site
(in Azerbaijani) (in English)

The New Azerbaijan Party (Azerbaijani: Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası, YAP) is the ruling political party in Azerbaijan. It was formed on 18 December 1992 by the former President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, who led it until his death in 2003.[4] It is now led by his son, Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father as the party leader and as President of Azerbaijan since 2003.

Ideology

The New Azerbaijan Party has been described as a post-Soviet party of power.[5] Political scientists have stated that the party is loosely based on nationalism and a personality cult centered on Heydar Aliyev, and lacks a true political ideology.[3]

The party's stated ideologies are lawfulness, secularism, and Azerbaijani nationalism. It wants to build a "social-oriented" economy, and lists civil solidarity and social justice as the basis of its ideology.[1] The founder of the party, Heydar Aliyev, was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until July 1991.[6]

The main contention between the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and the opposition can actually be seen as a power struggle between the old Soviet elite, which still controls Azerbaijan, and the new intelligentsia that has long-opposed Soviet institutions.[7]

The New Azerbaijan Party under Heydar Aliyev was conservative, including when it came to the culture and religion of Azerbaijan. The New Azerbaijan Party has always been one of the main, if not the most important aspect, in organizing the country in an effective way that left no place to question the Party in charge.

Rights

The members of party are ensured with following rights:

  • to elect and to be elected to authorities of the party;
  • to take part freely in the determination of the party's policy and in the discussion of issues related to its activities;
  • to participate in the events organized by the party
  • to make suggestions for realizing the goals and tasks of the party;
  • to use the party's support;
  • to discuss and criticize freely all issues related to the party's policy as well as all activities of its bodies;
  • to stop being membership in the party or to leave the party.[8]

Party's Organizational Structure

  • NAP implements its activity all over the territory of Azerbaijan.
  • The initial party organization is based on the territorial principle.
  • The decision to establish the initial party organization is adopted by foundation meeting with participation at least three members of the NAP and approved by the Executive Board of the district-city organizations. A party member can be registered only in the one party organization.
  • The guiding body of the initial party organization is a general assembly. The general assembly is held at least once every three months. The assembly is available by participation of more than half of the members registered in the initial party organization. Decisions are approved by simple majority of votes.[8]

Congresses

  • The first Congress of the party was held on 21-22 December 1999, with the participation of more than 2,000 members of the party from different regions of the country, as well as more than 30 foreign representatives.[9]
  • The second Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party was held in Baku on 21 November 2001. Some amendments were made to the Charter. Ilham Aliyev was elected as a Deputy Chairman of the party. Heydar Aliyev delivered a speech at the congress. 1952 representatives participated at the II Congress.[10]
  • The third Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party was held on March 26, 2005 in Baku with participations of more than 1800 members.[11]
  • The fourth Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party was held on August 2, 2008, in the Heydar Aliyev sports and concert complex with the participation of more than 600 members in Baku. The Congress decided to nominate Ilham Aliyev as a candidate for the presidential elections to be held on October 15, 2008.[12]
  • The fifth Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party was held at the Buta Palace in Baku on August, 2008. The congress decided to nominate Ilham Aliyev as a candidate for the presidential elections to be held on October 9, 2013. [13][14]
  • The sixth congress of the New Azerbaijan Party was held on February 8, 2018 at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku. The congress decided to nominate Ilham Aliyev as a candidate for the presidential elections to be held on April 11. More than 700,000 members of the New Azerbaijan Party attended at the Congress.[15]

Electoral history

At the elections (5 November 2000 and 7 January 2001), the party won 62.3% of the popular vote and 75 out of 125 seats. Its candidate Ilham Aliyev was reported by the government to have won 80% of the popular vote in the 2003 presidential elections, which faced criticism of vote-rigging from groups such as Human Rights Watch. At the 2005 parliamentary elections, it won 62 out of 125 seats. At the 2010 parliamentary elections, it won 72 out of 125 seats. Presently, New Azerbaijan Party has 518,000 members.[16] In the 1 November 2015 Parliament election, the New Azerbaijan Party won 70 out of 125 seats, thus losing 2 seats in the National Assembly since the last election.

New Azerbaijan Party's head office in Baku.

Election results

Presidential elections

Election date Party candidate Number of Vote Percentage of votes
1993 Heydar Aliyev 3,919,923 98.8
1998 Heydar Aliyev 2,556,059 77.6
2003 Ilham Aliyev 1,860,346 75.38
2008 Ilham Aliyev 3,232,259 87.34
2013 Ilham Aliyev 3,126,113 84.54
2018 Ilham Aliyev 3,394,898 86.02

Parliamentary Elections

Election Votes % Seats +/– Position Government
1995–1996 2,228,435 62.7
59 / 125
 Steady Steady 1st In Government
2000–2001 1,809,801 62.3
75 / 125
 Increase 16 Steady 1st Majority gov't
2005
61 / 125
 Decrease 14 Steady 1st Majority gov't
2010 1,104,528 45.8
72 / 125
 Increase 11 Steady 1st Majority gov't
2015
70 / 125
 Decrease 2 Steady 1st Majority gov't

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "History". New Azerbaijan Party.
  2. ↑ Hunter, Shireen (2017). The New Geopolitics of the South Caucasus. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 41–43.
  3. 1 2 Guliyev, Farid; Pearce, Katy E. The Challenges of Electoral Competition in an Oil Rich State: Azerbaijani Pre-Election Report Washington Post. 6 October 2013. Accessed 2 July 2014
  4. ↑ Ruling Party Sees Victory in Azeri Vote
  5. ↑ Herron, Erik. "Elections and Democracy After Communism?" Palgrave Macmillan, 26 May 2009. (p. 86-87)
  6. ↑ "Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev". New Azerbaijan Party. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06.
  7. ↑ Joël Krieger, Margaret E. Crahan. The Oxford companion to politics of the world. Oxford University Press. p. 59.
  8. 1 2 "THE CHARTER OF THE NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY". /. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  9. ↑ "THE FIRST CONGRESS OF THE NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY".
  10. ↑ "THE SECOND CONGRESS OF THE NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY".
  11. ↑ "THE THIRD CONGRESS OF THE NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY".
  12. ↑ "THE FOURTH CONGRESS OF THE NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY".
  13. ↑ "THE FIFTH CONGRESS OF THE NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY".
  14. ↑ "Official web-site of President of Azerbaijan Republic - NEWS » Speeches". en.president.az. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  15. ↑ "6th Congress of New Azerbaijan Party held in Baku VIDEO". Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  16. ↑ Ruling New Azerbaijan Party will mark membership of 500,000th person

Further reading

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