📩 We are launching Brief Eastern Europe!

DEAR READER, 

We are very excited to share with you the first edition of Brief Eastern Europe! After a long summer of preparation and planning, we are thrilled to launch this project and we hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed creating it.

What should you expect?

Just like the New Eastern Europe magazine and the Talk Eastern Europe podcast, every Monday the Brief Eastern Europe newsletter will provide you with quick, digestible news briefs from the region, following weekly developments in Central and Eastern Europe. Our weekly newsletter will also include five-minute expert opinions to keep you up to speed with the latest events – our inaugural expert opinion by Natalia Konarzewska, a policy analyst focusing on the Caucasus, will cover the recent elections in Azerbaijan, why they were called ahead of schedule, what were the factors behind the record-low voter turnout, and how this will influence the political environment in the country.

In addition, we will share key conferences, projects, networking opportunities, and anything from the region that will help you expand your professional reach. For example, our team is running a workshop for journalists focusing on minority communities here in Krakow in October. You can find out more about the details below!

Lastly – make sure to check out our referral programme – invite your friends to our newsletter and get discounts and other perks from us! 

Enjoy your first “brief”!

Azerbaijan’s ruling party New Azerbaijan Party (YAP), along with nominally independent candidates believed to be linked with the government, and smaller pro-government parties, secured a majority in the snap parliamentary elections held on September 1st. For the first time, parliamentary elections were organized across the entire territory of Azerbaijan, as in recent years Baku regained control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent regions.

The election was originally scheduled for November this year, but President Ilham Aliyev decided to move it to September to avoid overlapping with the COP29 climate conference, which will be held in Baku from November 11-22, 2024. Although the decision to dissolve the parliament and move the election date was approved by the Constitutional Court, the Azerbaijani opposition questioned its legality citing the country’s constitution, which states that the parliament can dissolve itself only under specific circumstances that were not met in this case. This is yet another election held ahead of schedule this year due to political reasons. The presidential election in February 2024, originally planned for 2025, was brought forward by Aliyev to capitalize on the recent victory in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to preliminary results, the New Azerbaijan Party won an outright majority in the Azerbaijani legislature, the Milli Majlis, securing 68 seats out of 125. Independent candidates, widely believed to have government ties, received 44 mandates, while almost all remaining seats went to the small pro-government parties. The voter turnout reached 37.27 percent, the lowest in Azerbaijan’s modern history. This record-low turnout reflects deepening social mistrust in the electoral process, despite authorities using administrative resources and election fraud to boost participation and the ratings of the pro-government candidates.

The vote was boycotted by the biggest opposition party, Ali Karimli’s Popular Front Party. The new legislature is nearly devoid of opposition members. Erkin Qədirli, from the “Republican Alternative” (ReAl) party, is the only opposition deputy. The already heavily restricted political activity of the Azerbaijani opposition was further curtailed by the controversial law on political parties, which came into force in January 2023. This repressive law imposes restrictive requirements, such as a minimum number of party members/party founding members, an obligation to provide detailed information about members to the state registry, and other limitations. Observers widely believe the new law was enacted to further undermine opposition activity in Azerbaijan.

As in previous elections in Azerbaijan, the recent parliamentary elections were marred with widespread irregularities and violations. The OSCE, local election monitors, and opposition politicians highlighted that the vote took place in a restrictive, non-competitive political and legal framework. The elections were preceded by a government crackdown on opposition, including arrests of journalists, scholars, human right defenders and opposition activists. Furthermore, the election was held in an environment which restricts basic freedoms of association, expression and assembly, and did not ensure equal opportunities for all political parties. The voting process was punctuated by numerous violations, including issues with vote counting, casting multiple ballots, pressure on local election monitors, ballot stuffing and “carousel” voting practices. 

The recent parliamentary elections cement Aliyev’s authoritarian rule, despite record-low voter turnout. The new legislature will be dominated by loyalists, often from the younger generation eager to replace older pro-government politicians. The increasingly restrictive political environment and frequent crackdowns on opposition have virtually eliminated any serious signs of dissent. Aliyev is clearly consolidating his power, leveraging the recent victory in Nagorno-Karabakh and the ongoing peace negotiations with Armenia, which have been advantageous for Azerbaijan.