Kyrgyz Parliamentary Changes Undermine Opposition

The opposition Social Democratic Party has been sidelined in Kyrgyzstan’s parliament by a shake-up which deprived it of the two committee chairmanships it believes it is entitled to.

The changes followed a speech by President Kurmanbek Bakiev on October 20 in which he announced reforms to the institutions of government and hinted that parliament should reform the way it is structured. (For more, see Kyrgyz Reforms Leave President Stronger, RCA No. 593, 26-Oct-09.)

In a resolution passed on November 6, legislators cut the number of parliamentary committees from 12 to nine. That left Bakiev’s party Ak Jol, which has an overwhelming majority with 71 seats, chairing eight of the committees, while the Communist Party got one.

The opposition Social Democratic Party was in second place at the last election, winning 11 seats compared with the Communists’ eight. Social Democrat Isa Omurkulov told parliament that made his party eligible to get two committee chairmanships, but it was awarded none.

To correct this discrepancy, Ak Jol proposed offering the Social Democrats one chairmanship and one deputy chairmanship, which would have preserved the status quo.

However, the Social Democrats were having none of it and left the chamber to mark their protest.

Although this wrangling over one or two parliamentary positions might seem a storm in a teacup, a number of analysts believe it matters because the authorities have used the restructuring to further marginalise the opposition.

Gulmira Mamatkerimova, an independent expert on parliamentary development, believes excluding the opposition from committee leaderships is bad for democracy.

“Since the Social Democratic Party did not receive leading posts on any of the committees, parliament has become unrepresentative,” she said. “Parliament is a representative body, and it is a bad sign when the parties which make it up are not present in the committee leaderships.”

Political analyst Pavel Dyatlenko said committee chairmanships were an important aspect of the legislative process, and the position allowed the holder to block or expedite laws.

“If the chairperson comes from the opposition, he or she can delay certain contentious bills,” he explained. “If they are from the ruling party, they may ensure that a law the authorities want gets passed rapidly.”

The Social Democrat Omurkulov agrees with those who suspect the changes to parliament were used to undermine the opposition.

“If the authorities declare there is a multi-party system, this should be visibly evident,” he said.

Ak Jol parliamentarian Dinara Moldosheva rejects claims that the Social Democrats were deliberately excluded, arguing that on the contrary, her party had invited the other two – the Communists and Social Democrats – to sit down and hammer out a compromise.

“Unfortunately, they [Social Democrats] did not want to be part of these negotiations,” she said.

In any case, she argued, committee decisions are based on majority votes and the chairmen play merely an organisational role.

The Social Democrat presence in parliament is the only way in which the opposition is represented in Kyrgyzstan’s national governing institutions. The other major opposition party – Ata Meken – has no seats whatsoever, and believes the result of the 2007 election was rigged against it to ensure its exclusion. The Communists also count as part of the opposition, but are less prone to seeking confrontation with the Bakiev administration.

Social Democrat leader Almazbek Atambaev stood against Bakiev in this July’s presidential election on behalf of a broad opposition coalition, but was roundly defeated. Again, opposition politicians have accused the authorities of fixing the results.

The Social Democrats have suffered other reverses recently. In late August, the party’s deputy chairman and parliamentary leader Bakyt Beshimov left the country and went to the United States, where he is believed to be seeking political asylum there.

Another leading Social Democrat, Kubanychbek Kadyrov, was stripped of his parliamentary immunity on September 18, because prosecutors accuse him of interfering in an investigation of into election-related unrest. (For more, see Kyrgyz Opposition MP Under Pressure, RCA No. 590, 02-Oct-09)

Timur Toktonaliev is an IWPR-trained journalist in Kyrgyzstan.