Author Archives: Peter Douglas Banks

Reflections from a Liberal in Azerbaijan

By Peter Douglas Banks | Tue 20th October 2020 - 2:00 pm

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Around eight months ago, I, along with a dozen or so colleagues from young liberal organisations from across Europe, were selected to be observers in the snap general election in Azerbaijan. I was honoured to be the UK/Liberal Democrat representative with the European Liberal Youth Network (LYMEC) Mission. I have felt for some time that I ought to tell the party what I found on its behalf. So now, with some trepidation, I will.

For those who don’t know (as I didn’t), a brief explainer on the situation in Azerbaijan: Ilham Əliev, the son of the first president of independent Azerbaijan Heydar, leads a deeply illiberal regime tainted with corruption and an entrenched hatred of their neighbour Armenia. The make-up of the government, to all intents and purposes, has not changed since they were relinquished from Soviet control in 1991. This is the situation into which we were dropped; a group of young, relatively inexperienced young liberals from wealthy, by-and-large politically stable, European nations, preparing to tell an Azeri quasi-despot his psephological fortune. Goodness me.