SEPT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament cancelled plenary sessions until after an election which is set for Oct. 4. Cancelling plenary sessions effectively marks the start of campaigning for the parliamentary election.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)
SEPT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The OSCE, Europe’s democracy and civil rights watchdog, said it was going to send 30 long-term and 350 short-term observers to monitor Azerbaijan’s parliamentary election set for Nov. 1. Relations between Europe and Azerbaijan are at a low. Europe has accused Azerbaijan of cracking down on human rights; Azerbaijan has accused the West of trying to organise a coup.
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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI – Georgia’s parliament voted 78-0 in favour of stripping control of the country’s security and intelligence agencies from the ministry of interior.
Under the reforms the interior ministry will retain control of policing in Georgia and the border guards, although its overall power will be much reduced.
The current interior ministry structure was created by former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. He pooled counterintelligence operations and border control with other law enforcement units under the interior ministry. Mr Saakashvili argued this system was more efficient. His opponents said accountability was reduced.
Nino Dolidze, a university professor at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, explained.
“Together with the ministry of justice, it was the flagship of all Saakashvili’s reforms,” she told The Bulletin. “But it also became the place where his success started to melt and decrease.”
One of the main promises of the Georgian Dream coalition during 2012 parliamentary elections was to break down this concentration of power.
From Aug. 1 a new State Security Service will take over counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, anti-corruption, surveillance and other special operations responsibilities. The head of the State Security Service will be selected by the government and approved by parliament for a single six-year term.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JUNE 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream coalition said it won’t scrap the MPs elected via a first- past-the-post system for the 2016 parliamentary election. Last month the Constitutional Court said it backed reforming the voting system to make it fairer.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the country’s parliamentary election process is unfair.
In particular, the Court said discrepancies in the size of the constituencies used for the first-past-the-post system diminished the election’s fairness.
In Georgia’s parliamentary elections, 150 MPs are voted into parliament. The first- past-the-post system is used to elect 73 MPs and proportional representation for the remain- ing 77 seats. The problem,advocates for change have said, is that the first-past-the-post constituencies vary in size from 6,000 voters to over 150,000 voters.
The landmark ruling strengthens the case for change.
“It’s up to the Georgian Parliament to decide on proportional and majoritarian models of the electoral system provided that constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens will be protected in this process,” Georgian media quoted the Constitutional Court as saying.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government easily survived a no-confidence vote in parliament triggered by the resignation of a minister earlier this month, meaning that PM Irakli Garbashvili remains in power.
Mr Garbashvili, part of the Georgian Dream coalition that turfed out former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s party from power, appointed four new ministers, including Tina Khidasheli as the country’s first female defence minister.
Importantly, even though Mr Garbashvili’s government won the no-confidence vote 87-38, it would still have damaged the government’s credibility.
The Georgian Dream has been beset by bickering and in- fighting and its popularity has plummeted as a regional economic recession batters Georgia. Its currency has slid 32% against the dollar.
Alongside Ms Khidasheli, Mr Garbashvili appointed Gigla Agulashvili as environment minister, Nodar Javakhishvili as infrastructure minister and Tariel Khechikashvili as minister for sport.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an opinion poll for the National Democratic Institute in Georgia, only 24% of respondents said they would vote for the ruling Georgian Dream Coalition. The poll is another blow to the authority of the coalition.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev reappointed Karim Massimov as his PM after officially being sworn in as Kazakhstan’s leader. As a formality, the PM and all the ministers have to resign after a presidential election.
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
>>Real question facing Kazakhstan is what happens next
APRIL 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nursultan Nazarbayev won a fifth presidential election in Kazakhstan with a 97.7% share of the vote.
Western election monitors complained that there had been little, or no, real opposition. The only two alternative candidates to Mr Nazarbayev both supported his re-election.
Not that this seemed to bother Mr Nazarbayev.
“I’m sorry that these numbers may seem inadmissible to super- democratic countries. But there is nothing I can do about them. Had I interfered, that would have been anti-democratic,” he said according to reports.
The key now — for interested observers of Kazakhstan’s business, political and social scenes — is to watch out for what happens next. Mr Nazarbayev and his close band of elites called an early election to impose his authority over the country at an increasingly difficult period. The economy is under pressure from a drop in oil prices and a sharp fall in Russia’s economic vitality. This has generated pressure on the Kazakh tenge to devalue,
<<Election was a prelude to more important decisions <<
With a successful election, now may be the opportune time for Kazakhstan to devalue its currency without triggering social upheaval.
And then, of course, there is the question of succession. At 74-years-old, Mr Nazarbayev’s years in office are probably numbered. He has yet to anoint a successor. Now, though, may be his chance.
The 2015 presidential election is most likely a prelude to more important decisions facing Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a constitutional formality, the Kazakh government resigned immediately after Nursultan Nazerbayev was re-elected as president for the fifth time. He re-appointed his trusted lieutenant Karim Massimov as PM, ensuring stability in the government.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
