Politics of Kyrgyzstan

The Politics of Kyrgyzstan take place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is head of state and the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan is head of government, and of multi-party system in development. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament.

Political history since independence

In the first years of Kyrgyzstan's full independence, President Askar Akayev appeared wholeheartedly committed to the reform process. However, despite the backing of major Western donors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kyrgyzstan had consequential economic difficulties from the outset. These came mainly as a result of the breakup of the Soviet trading bloc, which impeded the Republic's smooth transfer to a free-market economy.

In 1993, allegations of corruption against Akayev's closest political associates blossomed into a major scandal. One of those accused of improprieties was Vice President Feliks Kulov, who resigned for ethical reasons in December. Following Kulov's resignation, Akayev dismissed the government and called upon the last communist premier, Apas Djumagulov, to form a new one. In January 1994, Akayev initiated a referendum asking for a renewed mandate to complete his term of office. He received 96.2% of the vote.

A new Constitution was passed by the Parliament in May 1993. In 1994, however, the Parliament failed to produce a quorum for its last scheduled session prior to the expiration of its term (February 1995). President Akayev was widely accused of having manipulated a boycott by a majority of the parliamentarians. Akayev, in turn, asserted that the communists had caused a political crisis by preventing the legislature from fulfilling its role. Akayev scheduled an October 1994 referendum, overwhelmingly approved by voters, that proposed two amendments to the Constitution, one that would allow the Constitution to be amended by means of a referendum, and the other creating a new bicameral parliament called the "Jogorku Keņesh".

Elections for the two legislative chambers - a 35-seat full-time assembly and a 70-seat part-time assembly - were held in February 1995 after campaigns considered remarkably free and open by most international observers, although the election-day proceedings were marred by widespread irregularities. Independent candidates won most of the seats, suggesting that personalities prevailed over ideologies. The new Parliament convened its initial session in March 1995. One of its first orders of business was the approval of the precise constitutional language on the role of the legislature.

Kyrgyzstan's independent political parties competed in the 1996 parliamentary elections. A February 1996 referendum - in violation of the Constitution and the law on referendums - amended the Constitution to give President Akayev more power. It also removed the clause that parliamentarians be directly elected by universal suffrage. Although the changes gave the President the power to dissolve Parliament, it also more clearly defined Parliament's powers. Since that time, Parliament has demonstrated real independence from the executive branch.

An October 1998 referendum approved constitutional changes, including increasing the number of deputies in the upper house, reducing the number of deputies in the lower house, rolling back Parliamentary immunity, reforming land tender rules, and reforming the state budget.

Two rounds of Parliamentary elections were held on February 20, 2000 and March 12, 2000. With the full backing of the United States, the OSCE reported that the elections failed to comply with commitments to free and fair elections and hence were invalid. Questionable judicial proceedings against opposition candidates and parties limited the choice of candidates available to Kyrgyz voters, while state-controlled media reported favorably on official candidates only and government officials put pressure on independent media outlets that favored the opposition.

In 2002 Azimbek Beknazarov, a leading opposition figure, was imprisoned by the local authorities, in what many believe to be politically motivated circumstances. This led to protests resulting in clashes with police forces, culminating in the death of 5 people in Jalal-Abad.

As May approached the authorities further extended their hold on power, imprisoning the vocal former Presidential ally, Feliks Kulov, to 10 years for alleged "abuses of office". During the same month the entire government resigned, accepting blame for the loss of life during the protests earlier in the year. A new government lead by Nikolay Tanayev was then formed and has remained ever since.

In November the President faced yet more protests, as the opposition announced it would march on the capital and demand his resignation. The police reacted by arresting large amounts of demonstrators, further adding to international disapproval at the authoritarian nature of Akayev's government.

By June 2003, the lower house of Parliament announced that President Akayev and two other "puppet" leaders of Kyrgyzstan, from the Soviet era, would be given lifetime immunity from prosecution, raising the prospect of Akayev finally stepping down.

The opposition parties have since announced they will form a coalition to fight those parties linked to the government in the 2005 elections.

In 2005, following disputed results of the 2005 parliamentary elections, Kyrgyzstan was thrown into a state of political turmoil, with different parties claiming that they were the legitimate government. On 10 July 2005 interim President and opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev won the presidential election in a landslide victory. (See: Tulip Revolution).

In 2006, Bakiyev faced a political crisis as thousands of people demonstrated in a series of protests in Bishkek. They accused him of reneging on promised constitutional reforms limiting presidential power and giving more authority to the parliament and cabinet. They also accused him of failing to eradicate corruption, crime, and poverty. [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/69EB374D-9459-4936-9311-23B1EF638C26.htm] Bakiyev in turn accused the opposition of plotting a coup against him. Several parliamentarians had been killed during the political unrest. [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ECF18B83-A403-48E8-9253-168D6DC52487.htm]

Executive branch

President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev
Ak Zhol
15 August 2005
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Prime Minister
Igor Chudinov
Ak Zhol
24 December 2007The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The prime minister is nominated by the president and confirmed by the parliament. The Cabinet of Ministers is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister.

Legislative branch

In the Soviet era, Kyrgyzstan had a unicameral legislature which was replaced in 1995 by the bicameral Supreme Council ("Joghorku Keneš"). The Supreme Council consisted of the Assembly of People's Representatives (45 seats; members were elected by popular vote from single member constituencies) and the Legislative Assembly (60 seats; 45 members of which were elected by popular vote from single member constituencies, and 15 of which were from national party lists on a proportional basis with a 5% threshold).Day, Alan John (2002) "Political Parties of the World" (5^th ed.) John Harper, London, p. 289, ISBN 0-9536278-7-X] All legislative terms were five years.

In 2005, as part of the 2005 election process and in accordance with a 2003 referendum, the Parliament again became unicameral. The Legislative Assembly ("Myizam Chygaruu Jyiyny") had 75 members, elected for five year terms from single-seat constituencies. [Finn, Peter (28 February 2005) "Elections in Kyrgyzstan Inconclusive: Most Legislative Races Forced Into Runoffs: Monitors Fault Atmosphere" "The Washington Post" p. A-10 ]

However, because of the political unrest, a new constitutional referendum was held on 21 October 2007 which approved a new electoral system, enlarged the parliament to 90 members and introducing party-list voting. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7058557.stm Staff (23 October 2007) "'Many violations' in Kyrgyz vote" "BBC News"] ] Party-list voting is a proportional representation system of voting, where candidates are selected from central party lists rather than locally elected. Early parliamentary elections were held on 16 December 2007. ["Kyrgyz News Agency" (15 November 2007) "Three Kyrgyz parties withdraw bids to run for parliament" from "BBC Monitoring: Central Asia Unit"] ["Kyrgyz AKIpress" (25 December 2007) "OSCE envoy condemns Kyrgyz crackdown on opposition" from "BBC Monitoring: Central Asia Unit"]

Political parties and elections

More info Kyrgyz presidential election, 2005":"More info: Kyrgyz parliamentary elections, 2005":"More info: Kyrgyz parliamentary elections, 2007"

Political pressure groups and leaders

* Council of Free Trade Unions
* Kyrgyz Committee on Human Rights - Ramazan Dyryldayev
* National Unity Democratic Movement
* Union of Entrepreneurs

Judicial branch

Although the constitution provides for an independent judiciary, Kyrgyzstan’s court system is widely seen as under the influence of the prosecutor’s office. Low salaries make the bribery of judges commonplace. Most cases originate in local courts; they then can move via the appeals process to municipal or regional courts, with the Supreme Court the final court of appeals. Property and family law disputes and low-level criminal cases are heard by traditional elders’ courts, which are loosely supervised by the prosecutor’s office. Economic disputes and military cases are heard in specialized courts. The constitutional amendments of 2003 expanded the scope of the Supreme Court in civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings. Many protections of Western jurisprudence are not present in Kyrgyzstan’s system, which retains many features of the Soviet system. The right to counsel and the presumption of innocence of the accused are guaranteed by law but often not practiced. There is no trial by jury. Reform legislation under consideration in 2006 would establish a jury system and bolster the independence of the judicial branch. [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Kyrgyzstan.pdf Kyrgyzstan country profile] . Library of Congress Federal Research Division (January 2007). "This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.]

Administrative divisions

Kyrgyzstan is divided into 7 provinces (oblastlar, singular - oblasty) and 1 city* (shaar):
* Batken Oblasty (Batken)
* Bishkek Shaary*
* Chuy Oblasty (Bishkek)
* Jalal-Abad Oblasty (Jalal-Abad)
* Naryn Oblasty (Naryn)
* Osh Oblasty (Osh)
* Talas Oblasty (Talas)
* Ysyk-Kol Oblasty (Karakol) "note:" administrative center names in parentheses

International organization participation

AsDB, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECO, FAO, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM (observer), OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, SCO, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, WTrO

Notes

External links

* [http://www.ku.edu/~herron/ Erik Herron's Guide to Politics in East Central Europe and Eurasia]
* [http://www.kyrgyzreport.com Kyrgyz Report offers ongoing analysis, including an analysis of the clusters of political forces in the country and the roots of the country’s political problems]