Azerbaijan forms legislative base to improve municipalities

"The legislation, which outlines the improvements in activities and the status of municipalities is almost ready," Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee on Regional Issues Arif Rahimzade said.

Azerbaijan will hold municipal elections in mid December. Previous municipal elections were held in 1999 and 2004.

Number of municipalities in Azerbaijan was  reduced from 2,757 to 1,766 recently.

Rahimzade said after following the referendum on amendments and additions to the Constitution in March, it was necessary to amend the law on municipalities.

"The municipalities are one of the key institutions that form a civil society. Some municipalities can successfully fulfill their duties in this regard. But there are municipalities that do not fully use their capabilities," the chairman of the committee said.

As to unifying the municipalities, the MP said it was a very successful solution. "Previously it was possible to create a municipality in a territory with a population of five people. In foreign countries, there are serious limitations for this. For example, in Poland a territory inhabited by less than a thousand people is prohibited from forming local governments. In Greece, this figure is 2,500 and in Turkey it is 5,000," Rahimzad esaid .

Rahimzade believes that forming municipalities in territories with small population does not justify itself. "They have had problems in the formation of the budget. Taking into account these and other reasons, the law on the "Unification of municipalities" was passed, Rahimzade said.

As a result of the unification of the municipalities, after the next local elections, it will be possible to further improve the municipalities' activity, Rahimzade said.

/Trend News/