Azerbaijan, Baku, 15 August / corr. Trend E.Babayev / According to the governing New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), it is incorrect to accuse the government of the lack of strong opposition. "Unfortunately, accusing authorities of the Azerbaijani opposition's weakness became a norm. We believe that the strong authorities should have not strong but efficient opposition," Aydin Mirzazade, a member of the NAP's Political Council, said to Trend on 15 August.
The Azerbaijani opposition believes that the authorities are guilty for weakening of this camp recently. Opposition's representatives ground it with absence of normal conditions to realize political activity in the country.
According to Mirzazade, the opposition can have small social base, gain few votes, but the opposition should develop efficient programs and constructively criticize the authorities. "At present, efficient opposition of powerful authorities is being formed in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, the radical wing has held leading position at the Azerbaijani opposition for a long time. Currently, radical opposition began to pass its point of view to constructive opposition with the European thoughts. The authorities should not be blamed for it. The authorities do not create the opposition. The opposition should function in line with real conditions. Social base of the authorities, of which activity yield positive results, should be great," Mirzazade said and noted that the authorities and opposition together make 100% of potential of society. "The force, which gained trust of more than 50% of people, is in power. Generally, powerful authorities gain 60-70% of votes and gather the social base quickly and the rest becomes the opposition. The presence of the strong opposition at the powerful authorities can create abnormal situation," Mirzazade said and noted that the main reason of the opposition's weakness was not the authorities, but the opposition itself. "Leaders of the Azerbaijani opposition parties even hold meetings with regional organizations in Baku, not going out of their offices. Majority of the opposition has been bureaucratized and sharp necessity aroused to change them into efficient opposition," he said.
Heydar Aliyev, the chairman of the Supreme Assembly of Nakhchivan, established the NAP in 1992. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is the current chairman of the governing party, which has been in power for 15 years.
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