BAKU. – The Azerbaijani parliament is preparing to transition to a one-party system, Azadliq newspaper of Azerbaijan writes, noting that the country’s parliament is set to make regressive changes in the Law on Political Parties.    

“One of the changes has to do with the financing of the political parties. Pursuant to the Law, 90 percent of the State Budget allocations is provided to the parties that are represented in the parliament, and 10 percent is given to the extra-parliamentary political forces. According to the new bill, however, the allocations will be provided to the parties which have received at least three percent of the votes cast during the last elections. [And] This means all allocations will be given to the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan [New Azerbaijan] Party because, if the elections are ‘providently’ rigged, no opposition political force would surmount the three-percent threshold,” Azadliq writes.