The Azerbaijan Hope Party () or Ümid Party is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

that was first registered in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

in 1993. Its political stance is

center-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

, promoting liberal and democratic ideals. The party has regional branches in 65 regions of Azerbaijan and some 5,000 members.

History

The Ümid Party was first registered in 1993. In December 2002, Iqbal Agazade left the Civic Unity Party (CUP) and became leader of the Ümid Party. During the 2003 electoral campaigning period, the party held meetings in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

and in regional areas. The

2003 Azerbaijani presidential election Presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan on 15 October 2003. As expected, Ilham Aliyev, son of the outgoing president, Heydar Aliyev, was officially elected with an overwhelming majority in a vote international observers deemed not to be fr ...

took place on 15 October 2003. After voting finished, the party raised concern that there had been cases of

voter suppression Voter suppression is the discouragement or prevention of specific groups of people from voting or registering to vote. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the o ...

and on 16 October, that results had been

falsified Falsifiability (or refutability) is a deductive standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses, introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book ''The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). A theory or hypothesis ...

. On 17 October, Igbal Agazadeh and his associates were arrested. Agazadeh was sentenced by a criminal court to 3 years imprisonment. International organisations advocated for Agazadeh. On 20 March 2005, he was granted amnesty by presidential edict. In 2005 campaigning period, the party presented 30 candidates to the electorate. Agazadeh was elected to the '' Milli Majlis'' (National Assembly of Azerbaijan). In 2010, the party joined the Qarabağ voting bloc. The bloc included the

Azerbaijan Democrat Party The Azerbaijan Democrat Party (), also known as ADP, is a conservative list of political parties in Azerbaijan, political party in Azerbaijan. History The Azerbaijan Democrat Party was established on January 26, 1991, by the participants of 27 p ...

and the Intelligentsia Party. At the 9 February 2020 election, the party presented some 70 candidates to the voters. However, on 11 February, the 2020 election results were deemed null and void. Between 2011 and 2020, the Azerbaijan Ministry of Justice registered no new political parties. However, in 2021 at least seven new political parties were registered. In addition to this relaxing of electoral conditions, the

incumbents The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be a ...

began talks with opposition parties. The Hope Party participated. Agazade said, "It is better to have an exchange of ideas across a table than stand far away from each other and fight". Former members of the Azerbaijani Social Democratic Party and the Civic Unity Party joined the Hope Party. In 2023, government regulations contributed to the demise of some of Azerbaijan's long-standing political parties such as the CUP and the Azerbaijani Social Democratic Party (ASDP). However, the Hope Party maintained its standing and some 5,000 members.

Election results

National Assembly elections

References

Bibliography

* Central Committee of Azerbaijani Hope Party (2003). "MANIFESTO", ''Ümid Party'', https://www.umidparty.org/nizamnam%c9%99/ Azerbaijani democracy movements Political parties in Azerbaijan Political parties established in 1993 {{Azerbaijan-party-stub