The Civic Unity Party is an Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

i political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 established in 1999 in Moscow by the former President of Azerbaijan

President of Azerbaijan

The country of Azerbaijan is a presidential republic, with the President of Azerbaijan as the head of state, and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan as head of government...

 Ayaz Mutallibov

Ayaz Mütallibov

Ayaz Niyazi oğlu Mütallibov was the last leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, and the first President of independent Azerbaijan from October 1991 till May 1992.-Biography:...

. After the 2000 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, the party split between into two fractions: one led by Ayaz Mutallibov and the other led by Igbal Agazade. The latter fraction formed the Party of Hope .

In 2003, Mutallibov split from CUP, joining the Social Democratic Party of Azerbaijan as its chairman. From then on, CUP was led by Sabir Hajiyev and participated in 2005 parliamentary elections

Azerbaijan parliamentary election, 2005

The 2005 Azerbaijan parliamentary election was held on November 6. It pitted candidates of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party against opposition led by the Azadlıq bloc of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, the Equality Party and Azerbaijan Democratic Party. The polling stations closed 19:00...

, gaining 1 out 125 seats in the National Assembly of Azerbaijan

National Assembly of Azerbaijan

The National Assembly , also transliterated as Milli Majlis is the legislative branch of government in Azerbaijan. The unicameral National Assembly has 125 deputies: previously 100 members were elected for five-year terms in single-seat constituencies and 25 were members elected by proportional...

. Albeit nominally an opposition party, CUP officially supports the incumbent President Ilham Aliyev

Ilham Aliyev

Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev is the President of Azerbaijan since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party and the head of the National Olympic Committee...

.