Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. I.Alizadeh / Some members of the Azerbaijani opposition parties joined the Umid party after the 2005 parliamentary elections, MP Igbal Agazadeh, the chairman of the party, said.
Defeat of opposition parties during the last parliamentary elections caused serious differences among the parties, Musavat, Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan National Independent Party and the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan. The new parties, including Umid used the situation to their own political advantage.
However, Agazadeh did not name the party members who joined the Umid party. "I banned the leadership of the party and organization department to announce the names of the people joining Umid. The officials of the party visited different regions to encourage people to become members of Umid.
The MP noted that they did not aim to encourage people. Alongside Umid a range of opposition party members visited regions. Our main goal is to increase the political activity of citizens and to unite them around one political party.
Agazadeh was the secretary of the Popular Unity Party, headed then by the Azerbaijani ex-President, Ayaz Mutallibov, from 1999 to 2001. In 2001 the party divided. Since 2003 the party has been called Umid.