Azernews.Az

A Council of Europe body has made its conclusions on Azerbaijan’s newly drafted law on political parties, saying some of its previous recommendations were not taken into account.

In the assessment, drawn up at its two-day plenary session last week, the Venice Commission said that during the drafting of amendments to the 1992 Law on Political Parties, its 2004 conclusions pertaining to what is termed as "the lack of effective measures aiming to prevent corrupt donations, as well as exclusion of foreign citizens and stateless persons from (the country’s) political life" had not been taken into consideration.

The Venice Commission also believes that the proposed increase of the minimum number of members in a political party to 5,000 from 1,000 is unjustified.

"Regulations of the Law relating to the disbandment of political parties do not specify which of the executive authority bodies will ensure compliance with the law," the Commission said, adding that this body must be unbiased and independent of the government.

The Azerbaijani government recently held discussions with the Commission on the newly drafted Law.

The bill, which is to be passed in parliament after drastic amendments are introduced, envisions financing of Azerbaijani parties from the state budget.

Also, the Venice Commission has suggested that foreign nationals be authorized to establish and finance political parties, a proposal that has been rejected by the Azerbaijani government.