Azerbaijan’s leader names his wife as 1st vice-president
BAKU, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijan’s president on Tuesday appointed his wife as the first vice-president of the ex-Soviet nation — the person next in line in the nation’s power hierarchy.
Ilham Aliyev, 55 named his wife Mehriban, 52, to the position created after a constitutional referendum in September. Mehriban, who married her husband when she was 19, graduated from a medical university. She has served previously as a lawmaker and headed a charity.
The constitutional amendments approved at the referendum introduced the positions of two vice-presidents, one of them the first vice-president.
The first vice-president takes over the presidency if the president is unable to perform his or her duties. It doesn’t describe the first vice-president’s duties, but it’s expected that they will include overseeing the Cabinet.