ALMATY. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The Kazakh opposition National Social-Democratic Party has decided not to merge with the Azat party, the Social-Democratic Party said in a statement.
The Social-Democratic Party's political council has ruled that the party will continue operating in line with its charter, which does not provide for co-chairmanship and consolidation with the Azat party, the statement says.
It pointed out that, back in October 2004, the 6th congress of the National Social-Democratic Party supported Azat's idea of merging the two parties and amending the Social-Democratic Party's charter to introduce the offices of co-chairs and secretary-general.
"The Justice Ministry, following long red tape, denied Azat's liquidation, artificially preserving it as an independent political party. For this reason, justice agencies in April 2011 officially denied re-registration of the National Social-Democratic Party under the new name, the National Social-Democratic Party Azat," it said.
At the same time, the National Social-Democratic Party "has fully experienced all shortcomings of the co-chairmanship system, which decrease the efficiency of the work in the existing complex political conditions," it said.