Azerbaijan - May 2023

Despite promises from the Central Election Commission and a campaign by an opposition party to hold legally mandated special elections, seven seats in Azerbaijan’s 125-member parliament have been vacant for between one and three years. The lack of elections has been criticized by the lone opposition party with representation in parliament, with analysts citing the even further decline of parliament as an actual decision-making or representative body. Local analysts credited both government disinterest in the resurgence of political activity that accompanies elections, as well as public apathy towards the country’s electoral processes, which have become progressively less free and credible over the last twenty years.

Sources: EurasiaNet, Report Informasiya Agentliyi

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Armenia would be willing to recognize the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in exchange for Azerbaijani recognition of Armenian territorial integrity on 22 May. Although the government has indirectly suggested this historic policy change for the past year, Pashinyan’s statement marks the first time he or any Armenian leader suggested this outcome was acceptable in the decades-long hot-and-cold war between the two states. The remarks prompted protests in both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, where public sentiment has long held that the return of the latter to Azerbaijani government control would result in the mass derogation of the rights of its ethnic Armenian population at best and ethnic cleansing at worst.

Sources: EurasiaNet, Artsakh Press