INEVITABLE RENOVATION

Azerbaijan held the fifth municipal elections. According to the Central Election Commission, the total turnover was 32.72% of voters. Exactly 41,462 candidates representing 13 political parties or being self-nominated were competing for 15,156 seats in 1,606 municipalities. 52,600 local and 17 international observers monitored the preparations for the elections and the voting process. The elections were held without serious and massive violations.

20 years is not much

Members of municipalities in Azerbaijan are elected for five years. So far, four municipal elections have been held, which means that last year the local authorities of Azerbaijan turned 20 years old. Azerbaijan has ratified the Council of Europe's Charter on Local Self-Government, has a separate section in the Constitution on the regulation of municipal activities, as well as more than 20 laws and 200 regulations on municipalities. However, the effectiveness of local government is still low.

The main reason is the weak financial capacity of municipalities. As the chairman of the parliamentary committee on regional issues Arif Rahimzadeh noted, the legal base of municipalities is constantly improved, but the full-fledged practical functioning of municipalities depends on financial resources. "To ensure complete organisation of the work of municipalities, they must have financial means. Grants and subventions are provided from the state budget. But municipalities cannot fully levy taxes because their territorial boundaries are not defined. For municipalities to work well, there must be a bond between them and people, everyone should feel responsibility," Mr. Rahimzade said.

A. Rahimzade added that starting from the new year the government plans to introduce a diversified approach to state subsidies for municipalities depending on their financial capabilities. "Currently, the parliament and the Office of President are jointly working on this issue," Rahimzade said in October 2019.

Tax shortage

Financial revenues of local governments in Azerbaijan are generated from various sources, including the sale and rental of municipal land and property, taxes on real estate, land, mineral resources, advertising, trade objects, public catering, hotels, and sanatoriums. Municipalities also have the right to create enterprises and earn from their activities. However, due to the lack of effective mechanisms, these sources are not sufficiently involved, which affects the effectiveness of municipal services to the population.

According to the estimates of expert Vugar Tofigli, in 2018, Azerbaijani municipalities did not receive more than ₼20 million from hotels and resorts. "According to official statistics, in 2018, the volume of municipal payments from hotels reached just over ₼1.8 million. However, according to the same statistics, over 2.8 million tourists visited the country during this period spending almost $2 billion. If we divide this data by the days of stay and multiply by ₼1.1 municipal tax from each tourist per day, it turns out that municipal budgets should have earned at least ₼22 million," Tofigli said.

In his opinion, since the municipalities are not able to ensure the collection of all taxes and duties, they need support from tax authorities.

The same is true for other sources of revenue in municipal budgets. Duplication of functions of municipalities by local executive authorities, in particular, regarding housing and communal services, also remains a problem. As a result, the budget of Azerbaijani municipalities does not exceed a couple of tens of thousands of manats per year, and even subsidies from the state treasury do not help them fully cope with their functions.

Gender balance is observed

All these factors affect both the activity of voters and their preferences during the elections. Compared to previous elections to local governments, the turnout this year decreased by 6%. At the same time, competition for seats in municipalities, albeit slightly, but increased. If we consider these indicators in the context of the ongoing reforms in the country, the institution of municipalities in Azerbaijan will change in terms of quality also.

It is likely that large-scale structural and personnel reforms, the expectation of early parliamentary elections have somewhat pushed municipal elections into the background in the socio-political priorities of citizens. However, a low turnout indicator also indicates a slight decline in citizens' interest in municipal bodies, and accordingly dictates the need for reform of this institution.

At the same time, increased competition for places in municipalities, the prevalence of youth and women among the winners, make it possible to judge the upcoming positive changes. By the way, almost 39% of the new composition of Azerbaijani municipalities will be women.

Either way, the institution of municipal bodies cannot be independent from large-scale reforms initiated by President Ilham Aliyev in all spheres of public life. The results of the reforms are directly dependent on the effectiveness of the executive branch. That is why it is required to take urgent measures to consolidate and optimise the structures of state bodies. Under these conditions, the need for a strong institution of local self-government, which will be able to take the burden of local social, utilities and other problems of the population is increasing.