Azerbaijan, Baku, April 20 / Trend M.Aliyev /
At the meeting held on Friday, the Parliament adopted changes to the law "On political parties".
Changes to the law determine the allocation of funds to political parties from the state budget.
According to the change to the law, 10 percent of the allocated funds will be distributed among political parties that have nominated their candidates in the recent elections to the Parliament, scored less than three percent and are not represented in parliament. Some 40 percent of the funds will be divided between the political parties represented in parliament, while 50 percent will be distributed in proportion to the number of elected deputies.
During discussions, chairman of Great Creation Party Fazil Mustafa said that the discussion of such a change in the law says about the conduct by the authorities of political reforms. He also protested against the prohibition of war propaganda by political parties.
Elections determine the place of political parties in the society, said deputy executive secretary of New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) Mubariz Gurbanli. He said presentation of financial statements by political parties, provided for by changes to the law, is a very important issue. "NAP is one of the political parties presenting the financial report, no opposition party does present a financial report", he said.
According to amendments to the law, funding, and accepting donations by municipal bodies of political parties and bodies under their supervision from foreign countries and foreign legal entities, foreigners and stateless persons, those who are under age, individuals that do not specify name, surname, patronymic, series and number of ID card or its substitute, military units, associations and foundations, religious organizations, legal entities are prohibited.
Political parties will be required to include information on the amount of donations received, and the people who made these donations in the financial report. According to the proposed changes, the political parties are required to publish an annual financial report with the auditor's opinion in the media.
According to the amendment made to the law, at the time of state registration political parties present their program and any changes made later in the program, to the relevant body of executive power.
It is also noted that the activity of primary organizations, committees and other organizational structures of political parties in public bodies of Azerbaijan is not permitted.
The changes indicate that the political parties that do not have state registration can not act the same way as political parties, which have passed state registration.
According to another change in the law, placement of political parties' organizations in state and local government bodies will not be permitted.
Changes made to the law also provide for certain duties of political parties. According to the article of the law "On the forms of activities of political parties" parties should carry out educational work among the population.
Under the changes, adult, legally able citizens of Azerbaijan, who adopted the charter and program of a political party, may become a party member. Political parties register members.
The highest governing body of a political party is the Congress which is held at least once every five years.
Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ziyafet Asgerov said it's time to move from the street opposition to the civilized.
"The government is always a supporter of the compromise. We always want to maintain dialogue between the government and opposition in the parliament," he said.