Azerbaijan to hold snap parliamentary polls in February
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree to dissolve parliament and hold an early parliamentary election on February 9.
The move followed Monday's surprise vote by parliament, which is dominated by Aliyev's party, to dissolve the legislature and call snap polls.
Parliamentary elections had been scheduled for November 2020.
With most powers concentrated in the presidency, parliament has a limited role in the Caspian nation's political system.
In October, after then prime minister Novruz Mammadov tendered his resignation in a surprise move, Aliyev appointed Ali Asadov, a technocrat and close ally, to replace him.
The ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party's executive secretary Ali Ahmedov has said an overhaul of parliament's composition was needed to carry out Aliyev's reform program.
The president has ruled Azerbaijan since he was first elected in 2003 after the death of his father, Azerbaijan's Soviet-era Communist leader and former KGB general Heydar Aliyev.
Cementing his family's grip on power, Aliyev appointed his wife Mehriban as first vice president in 2017.
(Source: AFP)
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