The “dialogue” of the government and political parties without PFPA

A meeting of representatives of the authorities and 25 political parties took place in Baku the day before. The aim of  the meeting is “establishing and developing constructive cooperation.” It was attended by representatives of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, the Milli Majlis, the Central Election Commission, the Accounts Chamber, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance, the official statement said.

Political parties were represented by members of all state-registered parties, with the exception of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan. Adalat Veliyev, head of the Presidential Administration’s department for Relations with political parties and the legislature, said the authorities were interested in “consistent and constructive cooperation between various political forces, in a healthy political dialogue and solidarity on national issues.” Further, representatives of various government agencies provided information about their work under the new law on political parties.

So, the representative of the Ministry of Justice spoke about the introduction of a register of party members, the use of the “individual account” system, on liability for violation of the law.

An employee of the Ministry of Finance spoke about accounting in the activities of parties and the provision of state financial assistance.

The representative of the CEC informed about the provision of financial statements by the parties in connection with participation in the elections and their acceptance of donations.

An employee of the Accounting Chamber focused on checking the targeted use of money allocated to parties from the state budget.

In turn, representatives of the parties expressed their views on the topics under discussion. The official announcement lists all the parties represented at the meeting. However, the PFPA was not on the list.

PFPA Deputy Chairman Seymour Khazi, answering ‘s question about the reasons for his absence from the meeting, noted that his organization was not invited. However, even if invited, the PFPA would not take part in the discussions. “The PFPA can only participate in the dialogue if competent persons participate in it. In addition, the agenda for the dialogue must be announced to the public in advance. The discussions and their results should be open to the public,” Hazi said.