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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kyrgyzstan
Index
Although the constitution calls for a government of three branches, in
practice the presidency has been the strongest government office. As
economic and social conditions deteriorated in the early 1990s, President
Akayev sought extraconstitutional authority in dealing with a series of
crises. Under these conditions, Akayev faced occasional opposition from
parliament, and pockets of local resistance grew stronger in the southern
provinces.
President and Council of Ministers
Akayev is able to act as he does because under the constitution the
president stands outside the three-branch system in the capacity of
guarantor of the constitutional functioning of all three branches. The
president names the prime minister and the Council of Ministers, subject
to legislative confirmation.
According to the constitution, the president is to be elected once every
five years, for no more than two terms, from among citizens who are
between thirty-five and sixty-five years of age, who have lived at least
fifteen years in the republic, and who are fluent in the state language,
which is Kyrgyz. There is no vice president. Akayev defied predictions
that he would seek referendum approval of an extension of his term rather
than stand for reelection in 1996 as mandated in the constitution. (The
presidents of Kazakstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan had followed the
former course in 1994 and 1995.) In the presidential election of December
1995, Akayev gained 71.6 percent of the vote against two communist
challengers. Several other political figures protested that they had been
prevented illegally from participating. International observers found the
election free and fair. Earlier, newly elected deputies of the 1995
parliament had proposed that presidential elections be postponed until at
least the year 2000, with Akayev to remain president in the interim.
According to rumors, Akayev favored using a referendum to extend his own
term of office, but he found acceptance of parliament's proposal unwise.
Kyrgyzstan depends heavily on the loans of Western banks and governments,
who objected strenuously to the cancellation of elections as a "step
back from democracy."
The Council of Ministers nominally is entrusted with day-to-day
administration of the government. In general, however, the office of the
presidency has dominated policy making; in most cases, Akayev's
prerogative of appointing the prime minister and all cabinet positions has
not been effectively balanced by the nominal veto power of parliament over
such appointments. The new parliament of 1995 showed considerably more
independence by vetoing several key Akayev administrative appointments. In
February 1996, the government resigned following the approval of Akayev's
constitutional amendments. The new government that Akayev appointed in
March 1996 included fifteen ministries: agriculture, communications,
culture, defense, economy, education and science, finance, foreign
affairs, health, industry and trade, internal affairs, justice, labor and
social welfare, transportation, and water resources, plus deputy prime
ministers for agrarian policy, sociocultural policy, and industrial policy
and the chairmen of nine committees and agencies. Many individuals
retained their positions from the preceding government; changes occurred
mainly in agencies dealing with social affairs and the economy.
Legislature
In October 1994, Akayev took the legally questionable step of holding a
referendum to ask public approval for bypassing legal requirements to
amend the constitution. The referendum asked permission to amend the
constitution to establish a bicameral legislature that would include an
upper chamber, called the Legislative House, which would have only
thirty-five members. Those deputies would receive government salaries and
would sit in permanent session. A lower chamber, the House of National
Representatives, would have seventy members and would convene more
irregularly. Akayev's plan also provided that deputies in this new
parliament would not be able to hold other government positions, a clause
that caused most of the republic's prominent politicians to drop out of
consideration for election to parliament.
In the elections to the new parliament that began in February 1995, only
sixteen deputies managed to get clear mandates on the first round of
balloting. Second-round voting also proved indecisive. When the parliament
was convened for the first time, in March 1995, fifteen seats remained
unfilled; two important provinces (Naryn and Talas) had no deputies in the
upper house at all, prompting angry cries that regional interests were not
being properly represented when the two houses elected their respective
speakers. A later round of elections, which extended into May, was marked
by widespread accusations of fraud, ballot-stuffing, and government
manipulation.
Such circumstances aroused strong doubts about the legislative
competency of the parliament. Only six of the deputies have previous
parliamentary experience, and a number of prominent political figures,
including Medetkan Sherymkulov, speaker of the 1990-94 parliament, failed
to win what had been assumed were "safe" seats. Even more
serious were concerns about the incomplete mandate of the new legislative
system. The constitutional modifications voted on by referendum did not
specify what the duties and limitations of the two houses would be. Thus,
the early sessions of 1995 were preoccupied by procedural wranglings over
the respective rights and responsibilities of the legislative, executive,
and judicial branches. Because little business of substance was conducted
in that session, several deputies threatened that this parliament, like
the previous one, might "self-dissolve." However, the body
remained intact as of mid-1996.
Judiciary
According to the constitution, judges are to be chosen by the president,
subject to parliamentary confirmation. Potential judges must be
Kyrgyzstani citizens between thirty-five and sixty-five years of age who
have legal training and at least ten years of legal experience. The length
of judges' tenure is unlimited, but judges are subject to dismissal for
cause by parliament. In the mid-1990s, the judicial system remained
incomplete both in the filling of prescribed positions and in the
establishment of judicial procedures and precedents. A Supreme Court was
appointed, but its functioning was delayed in 1995 by parliament's refusal
to approve Akayev's nominee as chief justice. Although the parliament of
1991-94 also mandated a national constitutional court (over the objections
of Akayev), that body never has been established.
In general, the rule of law is not well established in the republic. The
one area of the law that has flourished in Kyrgyzstan is libel law, which
public figures have used widely to control the republic's press. By
contrast, the observance of laws designed for the regulation of the
economy is not uniform or consistent, even by government officials. The
functioning of the State Arbitration Court, which has responsibility for
financial and jurisdictional disputes within government agencies and
between government agencies and private enterprises, has been extremely
irregular and lacking in oversight by any other government institution.
Local Government
The republic is divided into seven administrative regions: six provinces
and the capital city of Bishkek. The so-called northern provinces are
Naryn, Ysyk-Köl, Chu, and Talas, and the southern provinces are Osh
and Jalal-Abad. Jalal-Abad was formed out of Osh Province in 1991, largely
to disperse the political strength of the south that had become centered
in Osh. Each province has a local legislature, but real power is wielded
by the province governor (until 1996 called the akim ), who is a
presidential appointee. In some cases, the akim became a
powerful spokesman for regional interests, running the district with
considerable autonomy. Particularly notable in this regard was Jumagul
Saadanbekov, the akim of Ysyk-Köl Province. The government
reorganization of early 1996 widened the governors' responsibilities for
tax collection, pensions, and a variety of other economic and social
functions.
Akayev has had difficulty establishing control over the two southern
provinces. Several southern politicians (the most important of whom was
Sheraly Sydykov, scion of an old Osh family that enjoyed great prominence
in the Soviet era) have taken the lead in national opposition against
Akayev. Sydykov headed the parliamentary corruption commission in 1994,
and he headed the influential banking and ethics committees of the
parliament elected in 1995.
When the akim of Osh resigned to run for the new parliament,
Akayev appointed as his replacement Janysh Rustambekov, an Akayev protégé
who had been state secretary. Rustambekov, the first northerner to head
this southern province and a highly controversial appointment, was
considered to be a direct surrogate of Akayev in improving control over
the south. Rustambekov, who has fired large numbers of local
administrators, is opposed chiefly by Osh Province Council head Bekamat
Osmonov, who is one of the most skilled and influential politicians in the
south. Osmonov, who also was a deputy in the lower house of the new
legislature, emerged as a powerful critic of Akayev and a possible
presidential rival if Akayev could not prevent the next election.
Data as of March 1996
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