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) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved former economy minister Temir Sariyev to be prime minister, the fifth in five years.
Mr Sariyev succeeds Djoomart Otorbayev who quit after failing to secure a deal with Canada’s Centerra Gold over the Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial asset.
Control of Kumtor, and Kyrgyzstan’s push to increase its ownership, has dominated Kyrgyz politics. Mr Sariyev referenced it.
“Nationalisation will only create certain risks and threats for us. We must seek other ways,” he said.
Mr Otorbayev, who served as PM for about a year, had pushed to trade Kyrgyzstan’s 32.7% stake in Centerra Gold in for a 50:50 stake in a new company that would own Kumtor. When this stalled he switched to calling for more directors on the Centerra Gold board. This also failed.
Some Kyrgyz MPs have called for the government to nationalise Kumtor.
Mr Sariyev takes over as head of a coalition of MPs from three parties — the Social Democrats, Ata-Meken (Father- land) and Ar-Namys (Dignity). Together they hold 69 seats out of the 120 seat-parliament. In November, Kyrgyzstan holds another parliamentary election, its second since a constitutional change in 2010 handed more power to parliament.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund said its assets had dropped by 5% in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2014. Azerbaijan’s government is trying to push its way through a regional economic downturn and has said it will dip into its reserves to support various projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon sacked the head of Tajikistan’s Central Bank Abdujabbor Shirinov, media reported, an apparent reaction to the continued slide of the somoni currency.
This year the somoni has nose-dived by around 20% against the US dollar as it struggled to cope with a fall in the value of the Russian rouble and a dip in Russia’s economy which has hit remittances.
Mr Shirinov, a previous Tajik ambassador to the United States and head of the Central Bank since 2012 has taken increasingly desperate measures to defend the currency. Last month he ordered exchange kiosks to be banned but instead of giving the government more control over its currency, it just forced money changers into the black market.
The Dushanbe-based ASIA-Plus reported that Jamshed Nourmahmadzoda had been appointed Tajikistan’s new Central Bank chief. Mr Nourmahmadzoda was previously head of Amonatbonk.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, and a former Georgian PM, has once again criticised the Central Bank for failing to stop a depreciation of the lari currency, media reported. The previous government, loathed by Mr Ivanishvili, appointed the current Central Bank chief.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Djoomart Otorbayev resigned as Kyrgyzstan’s PM after barely a year in office.
The 59-year-old former international economist was the fourth Kyrgyz PM to resign since constitutional reform shifted power from the president to parliament in 2010.
Earlier this month the Kyrgyz government appeared to change tack significantly and argue for a great number of directors on the Centerra Gold board rather than the creation of a new company, with a 50:50 ownership, to run Kumtor.
His resignation was linked to the failure to secure a permanent solution to the ongoing row with Canada’s Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor gold mine in east Kyrgyzstan — the country’s single biggest industrial asset.
“I think my decision to resign will allow the majority coalition to choose a more decisive prime minister,” Kyrgyz media quoted Mr Otorbayev as saying.
Kyrgyzstan owns 32.7% of Centerra Gold, which is listed in Toronto, and has been looking to boost its influence over the mine.
Importantly, Mr Otorbayev’s resignation highlights the unstable nature of Kyrgyz politics and also the dominance of the Kumtor ownership issue.
The three-party majority coalition now has 15 days to nominate a new PM for parliament.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A major newspaper in Kyrgyzstan complained of repressive action ordered by President Almazbek Atambayev in the build up to a parliamentary election later this year, Eurasianet reported. The Vechernii Bishkek newspaper supports the opposition, Eurasianet reported.
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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)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian sports minister Levan Kipiani resigned after a row with a parliamentary committee, triggering a vote of confidence in PM Irakli Garibashvili’s government.
In-fighting has dogged Mr Garibashvili’s Georgian Dream coalition government since it was voted into power in October 2012 and his opponents now sense an opportunity to kill it off.
Nino Burjanadze, a former PM and now an opposition leader, said: “Early parliamentary elections and real changes in the government are the only option at the moment”
Georgia is grappling with a fiercely divided political scene and a worsening economy linked to a decline in Russia’s finances.
The governmental crisis makes stability even more precarious. Mr Kipiani was the seventh member of Mr Garibashvili’s 20-member cabinet to quit. Under the constitution if a third of ministers resign, a no confidence vote is triggered within seven days.
And the Georgian Dream majority in parliament is wafer thin.
A handful of defections means that it holds 75 seats out of the current 149 filled seats. One seat is empty.
This means there is no guarantee the government will survive the vote, and if it fails, new elections are likely.
It is the speed of the government’s collapse that has taken people by surprise. Mr Kipiani was the third member of the government to resign in quick succession, following environment minister Elguja Khokrishvili and regional development minister Davit Shavliashvili.
Will Dunbar, a Tbilisi-based analyst, said: “To lose one minister in a week looks bad, to lose three looks like care- lessness and carelessness is one thing this government does well.”
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Georgian parliamentary delegation visited Kiev in an overt show of support for Ukraine’s pro-West government. The Kiev government is battling rebels in the east of Ukraine.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
