Azerbaijan to dissolve parliament and hold snap elections
Following a meeting of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party’s Political Council, the ruling party has announced plans to dissolve Parliament and prepare for snap elections. Some have speculated that the move is meant to strengthen the position of President Ilham Aliyev’s wife, Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva. The party’s Executive Secretary, Ali Akhmedov, justified the move by saying that the ‘reforms led by President Ilham Aliev should not be left out of the legislative sphere’. ‘We hope the