NOV. 16 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev called an early parliamentary election for Jan. 15, a date which means the suspended Communist Party cannot compete. Although its voter base is small, the Communist Party is one of the only genuine opposition parties.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 65, published on Nov. 16 2011)
NOV. 13 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A presidential election in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia will go to a second round after the Kremlin-backed candidate, emergencies minister Anatoly Bibilov and former education minister Alla Dzhioyeva tied with 25% of the vote each. No other candidate polled over 10%.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 65, published on Nov. 16 2011)
NOV. 8 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s upgraded Kazakhstan’s sovereign debt rating to BBB+, one notch above Russia. The upgrade is a significant boost to Kazakhstan’s political and business elite. Standard & Poor’s highlighted Kazakhstan’s projected increase in oil exports.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 64, published on Nov. 8 2011)
NOV. 7 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – On the fourth anniversary of clashes between Georgian security services and anti-government protesters, several hundred people demonstrated in Tbilisi against President Mikheil Saakashvili and his government. Local media said the Georgian Labour party organised the protest.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 64, published on Nov. 8 2011)
NOV. 8 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Despite predictable accusations from the losing candidates that a presidential election in Kyrgyzstan on Oct. 30 2011 won by PM Almazbek Atambayev was unfair, opposition protests and marches failed to gather momentum. Dodging post-election violence was vital for Kyrgyzstan to shake off its image as Central Asia’s most volatile country.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 64, published on Nov. 8 2011)
OCT. 30 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Almazbek Atambayev, Kyrgyzstan’s pro-Russia PM and a northern favourite, won a presidential election with around 63% of the vote.
This comprehensive first round victory avoided a potentially divisive second round run-off. His main southern opponents, though, criticised the legitimacy of his larger-than-expected victory and pledged to contest it in the courts and on the streets.
Politics in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia’s least stable country, splits along clan and family loyalties. Mr Atambayev and his opponents now need to show real leadership to control their supporters and quickly snuff out any signs of post-election violence.
Since 2005, Kyrgyzstan has suffered two revolutions and a bout of ethnic fighting that killed more than 400 people. It now desperately needs stability.
Although international observers criticised some aspects of the voting process, it was a genuinely contested election — a rarity in Central Asia.
And it was also a genuinely historic milestone in the region’s 20-year post-Soviet history. It marks the first time a sitting president has willingly and peacefully relinquished power.
The outgoing president, Roza Otunbayeva, took power in April 2010 as interim leader after a revolution. She always said she would give up power at a presidential election. Now she is making good on that promise. In a region dominated by autocratic male leaders who first tasted power during the Soviet Union, Ms Otunbayeva is a shining example.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 63, published on Nov. 1 2011)
NOV. 1 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In his first policy statement after winning a presidential election, Kyrgyzstan’s pro-Russia PM Almazbek Atambayev said the US will have to quit an airbase outside Bishkek when its lease expires in 2014. The airbase has been vital to NATO efforts in Afghanistan which also wind up in 2014.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 63, published on Nov. 1 2011)
OCT. 28 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The mayor of Yerevan, Karen Karapetyan, resigned after less than a year in one of the most powerful jobs in Armenia. Mr Karapetian said he had resigned because of another job opportunity but speculation mounted that he had been forced to resign because of his support for the opposition.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 63, published on Nov. 1 2011)
OCT. 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Quoting sources in Kazakhstan, the FT linked ex-British PM Tony Blair to a $13m deal to advise the Kazakh government. Mr Blair’s consultancy group, which includes staff from his Downing Street days, has agreed to advise Kazakhstan on its social and economic policies, the FT wrote.
Kazakh officials later confirmed the deal. Mr Blair’s press people said that although he had helped set up the group, he personally was no longer involved.
Since Mr Blair left government in 2007 he has been Special Envoy to the Middle East and built up a business as a high profile consultant and adviser through his company Tony Blair Associates.
Whatever the exact nature of his engagement with the Kazakh government, it would be one of his biggest clients as well as one of his most controversial.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ruled over Kazakhstan for all 20 years of its independence, international observers have never deemed an election to be free and fair and rights groups criticise its draconian approach to the media.
But Kazakhstan has recently developed a love for consultants. It is a country which has always had a slight air of insecurity about it, more so after the emergence in 2006 of the boorish fictional character Borat. Now, buoyed by its energy wealth, Kazakhstan is increasingly confident and wants to project a more serious image.
There are already plenty of Western advisers, consultants and PR gurus in Astana. Perhaps it was only ever a matter of time before Kazakhstan’s and Mr Blair’s interests converged.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 62, published on Oct. 25 2011)
OCT. 25 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov accepted the title of Hero of the Nation from the Council of Elders, more evidence, perhaps, another personality cult is flourishing. Mr Berdymukhamedov’s predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, had called himself Turkmenbashi — father of the Turkmen.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 62, published on Oct. 25 2011)
