Azerbaijan, Baku, April 15 /Trend News, A. Huseynbala/ 

The discussions held by the movement set up by Azerbaijani opposition parties have been interrupted.

"It was decided at the meeting of the Board of Chairmen of the movement to discuss the issue by each party," Citizens and Development Party (CDP) chair Ali Aliyev told Trend News. The CDA is a part of the Movement for Karabakh and Republic.

Azerbaijan will hold municipal elections in December 2009.

Previous municipal elections were held in 1999 and 2004.

Aliyev said though Musavat has decided to nominate own candidates, this issue will be discussed once again. "Differences between parties are caused by each party's protecting its own interests. It is expected that Musavat will choose such tactics as in case of the referendum when the party launched a separate campaign group," he added.

He said it is early to say in what from the movement will take part in the elections as general tactics has not been determined yet. Aliyev said no serious discussions on the municipal elections have been held by the Azadlig bloc the party has joined. "We have already begun to select candidates to be nominated for municipal elections," he said.

The issue of participation in the elections is more important than selecting candidates, he said. "We think we will not achieve progress in the elections if current composition of the election commissions remains unchanged. Therefore it is difficult to say whether the parties who founded the movement will take a joint action in the elections," Aliyev noted.

The Citizens and Development Party was founded in 2006 following a split in the Azerbaijan National Independence Party. Ali Aliyev's supporters held a conference to establish the CDP after the split. The party is a member of Azadliq political bloc.

"Parties face problems while taking part in the municipal elections both separately and in a joint manner," Azerbaijan Democratic party chair Sardar Jalaloglu told Trend News. The ADP is a member of the Movement for Karabakh and Republic.

He said at lest 50-page document must be designed to nominate one person for the elections. "The movement composes six parties. It is required to nominate candidates for half of the municipalities in an effort to take part in the elections as a bloc. It means we must nominate candidates for 1,400 municipalities out of 2,800 and must design 50-page document for each of them. We do not have enough funds to pay for such big volume of papers," Jalaloglu said.

He said the problems regarding separate participation in the elections is due to the fact that majority of municipalities operate in remote mountainous villages. "Parties usually campaign in regional centers and densely-populated areas. Therefore it is not realistic for us to nominate candidates in areas with small number of population," Jalaloglu said.

He said it is inappropriate to say whether the party will take part in the elections separately or in a joint manner until serious discussions are held. "As a result of discussions, the movement can act as a bloc for the parties participating in the elections," Jalaloglu said.

The Movement for Republic and Karabakh was founded by Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, Citizens and Development Party, Democrat, Musavat and Umid party.

The right-wing ADP was founded by Sardar Jalaloglu in1991. The party had been occupying a radical position against the authorities by January 2007 when it took a new political course to dialogue with the authorities. Rasul Guliyev, the former chairman of the party, and his supporters separated from the party protesting against its new political course and founded their the Open Society Party.

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