Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 7 / Trend , A.Huseynbala/
Over the past 10 years, Azerbaijan has adopted 30 laws concerning municipalities.
"The legislation, which outlines the improvements of activities and the status of municipalities, is almost ready," said Arif Rahimzade, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee on Regional Issues on Sept. 7.
Azerbaijan will hold municipal elections in mid December. Municipal elections were held in before, in 1999 and 2004.
Under the adopted law, the number of municipalities in Azerbaijan was reduced from 2,757 to 1,766.
Rahimzade said that after holding the referendum on amendments and additions to the Constitution in March, it was necessary to amend the law on municipalities.
"The municipalities are one of the key institutions that form a civil society. Some municipalities can successfully fulfill their duties in this regard. But there are municipalities that do not fully use their capabilities," said the chairman of the committee.
As to unifying the municipalities, the MP said it was a very successful solution. "Previously it was possible to create a municipality in a territory with a population of five people. In foreign countries, there are serious limitations for this. For example, in Poland a territory inhabited by less than a thousand people is prohibited from forming local governments. In Greece, this figure is 2,500 and in Turkey it is 5,000," said Rahimzade.
The chairman of the committee believes that forming municipalities in territories with small population does not justify itself. "They have had problems in the formation of the budget. Taking into account these and other reasons, the law on the "Unification of municipalities" was passed, said Rahimzade.
As a result of the unification of the municipalities, after the next local elections, it will be possible to further improve the municipalities' activity, Rahimzade said.
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