Mikhail Zabelin: "If Ilham Aliyev is not elected for the third term, this will affect the further development of Azerbaijan"

Mikhail Zabelin, deputy of Milli Medjlis, member of the political board of the Yeni Azerbaijan ruling party and chairman of the Russian community of Azerbaijan, is confident that if current President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has no chance to nominate for presidency for the third time, this will affect the further development of Azerbaijan.

"Imagine that if we deprive Ilham Aliyev of the right to run for presidency for the next term, we can thus pose a threat to Azerbaijan's movement in the

sphere of democracy, economy, by electing a person of lower level as compared to Ilham Aliyev", said Zabelin in his interview to Novosti-Azerbaijan on Wednesday, commenting on the initiative of the executive secretary of the Yeni Azerbaijan ruling party Ali Ahmedov about conduction of a referendum for introducing changes to the Constitution of Azerbaijan, according to which the citizens can be elected as President of Azerbaijan for more than twice.

The chairman of the Russian community of Azerbaijan considers it to be a sensible approach, which does not reject the democratic principles of elections.

"On the contrary, I consider that the currently existing restriction in terms of electing the citizens of Azerbaijan for position of a president is a violation of the democratic principles. The thing is that the democratic principles are based on people's will. If people want to elect any person, either the working president or any other person for the third time in the future, why should we deprive people of this right and not allow to elect a person, who is able to lead Azerbaijan to a new progress", notes he.

He considers that Ilham Aliyev does not only cope with the position of the president but also has a great trust among people, while people's trust must be a basis of democratic principles.

"Moreover, the recent elections showed that Ilham Aliyev has no rivals. Therefore, for the current stage, it is important to elect the most wortht person for a post of a president. And we, in line with the working Constitution, can deprive the worthiest person of the right to participate in presidential elections", concluded Zabelin.

/Day.Az/