Kyrgyz cat and mouse

Parliament adopts a new constitution every month

Tomorrow, consideration of a new draft constitution may be initiated in the Kyrgyz parliament, said deputy Kamchybek Tashiev. According to him, a group of 41 parliamentarians is ready to propose this project to replace the one that did not receive a constitutional majority of two-thirds of the Jogorku Kenesh (parliament) on December 25. Two days ago, a draft constitution strengthening the powers of the president received 46 votes out of 73 current deputies in the 75-seat parliament.

The constitutional process in Kyrgyzstan is beginning to resemble a game of cat and mouse. In less than two months, the parliament has already accepted the third version of the Basic Law for consideration.

On November 8, in the wake of a rally initiated by a number of opposition deputies, the Jogorku Kenesh, in a night vote that lasted two (!) minutes, adopted a constitution , which was signed by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev the next day. The Constitution established a parliamentary-presidential form of government in the republic and provided for the redistribution of part of the presidential powers to the parliament and the prime minister.

The document, adopted in haste, turned out to be so unfinished that just a few weeks later it led to a clash between all three branches of government. It turned out to be impossible to resolve the conflict within the framework of the new constitution. The fact is that the current government headed by Prime Minister Felix Kulov turned out to be illegitimate, since according to the new Basic Law it should be formed by the party that won the parliamentary elections. But in the current parliament of Kyrgyzstan there are no political parties, and the deputies, concerned about their own fate no less than about constitutional reform, prudently retained their powers until 2010.

To resolve these contradictions and push deputies to a decision to dissolve parliament and hold new parliamentary elections, the Kyrgyz government resigned on December 19. Ferment began among the deputies. As a result, on December 25, a new “presidential” version of the constitution was proposed, which lacked five votes for adoption.

Yesterday, President Bakiyev met with the leaders of a number of political parties in the republic, who reportedly “called on the head of state to dissolve the deputy corps and hold new parliamentary elections for the purpose of stabilization.” However, for the decision to dissolve to be legitimate, the president must demonstrate the incapacity of parliament. Any other path can be challenged by deputies as unconstitutional. In case the initiative for self-dissolution, which is already gaining momentum among parliamentarians (it is currently supported by 27 deputies with the required 50 votes), is not crowned with success, a counter initiative is being prepared. Its essence is that to dissolve the chamber, the support of only 35 deputies is sufficient, who can stop attending parliamentary meetings. Together with the under-elected three deputies, the result is a missing majority of 38 deputies - what is needed to recognize the incompetence of a body of representative power.

Arkady DUBNOV