Tag Archives: politics

Georgia’s election committee sets run-offs

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Central Election Commission set Oct. 30 as the date for run- offs in at least 48 single mandate seats which failed to return a majority winner in a parliamentary election on Oct. 8. The vote is important because, although the Georgian Dream is all-but certain to win a majority in the 150-seat parliament, if it wins a total of 113 seats it will be able to make constitutional changes.

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakh President’s grandson says he bought 49% stake in Transtelecom in 2015

ALMATY, OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — After 18 months of rumours, Nurali Aliyev, grandson of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, revealed himself to be the mystery buyer of a 49% stake in Kazakhstan’s telecoms network, Transtelecom.

The 8.9b tenge ($48m at the time) sale was agreed in May 2015, but the identity of the buyer was shielded from the public. At the time of the deal, Mr Aliyev was the deputy mayor of Astana. Kazakhstan’s state-owned railway company, Temir Zholy still holds a 51% stake in Transtelecom.

In an interview with the pro-government Tengrinews website, Mr Aliyev confirmed rumours on opposition websites that he had bought the stake.

“One of the reasons for my departure from the government service was the acquisition of a 49% stake in Transtelecom as part of the privatisation programme,” he said.

Mr Aliyev, 31, quit as deputy mayor of Astana in March this year, saying that he wanted to concentrate on his business commitments. He had held the position since Dec. 2013.

In Kazakhstan, it is fairly com- monplace for senior government members to own stakes in businesses.

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Turkmen President calls a presidential election

OCT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov called an election for Feb. 12, barely a month after he tweaked the country’s constitution to allow him to rule for life.

Mr Berdymukhamedov, who won a presidential election in 2012 with 97% of the vote, is expected to easily win next year’s vote, his third election since winning power in 2007.

But like the rest of the region, Turkmenistan’s economy has been creaking under a slump in global energy prices. This could make the election more complicated than previous votes.

Last month the 59-year-old Mr Berdymukhamedov removed an age cap of 70-years from the Turkmen constitution and also extended presidential terms to seven from five years, inline with many of his Central Asian peers.

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Uzbekistan’s power sharing details emerge

OCT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s clans have pulled together behind Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the acting president and PM, in a power-sharing deal designed to ensure stability after the death of Islam Karimov last month, diplomatic sources told Reuters news agency.

Analysts, including The Conway Bulletin, have said that the smooth promotion of Mr Mirziyoyev and his seemingly inevitable victory in a presidential election in December, suggested that a deal had been done between Uzbekistan’s key power-brokers, but this is the first time that diplomatic sources have gone on record to confirm this.

The unnamed sources said that both Security Service chief Rustam Inoyatov and finance minister Rustam Azimov supported Mr Mirziyoyev as the Uzbek elites’ front-man but that he would consult with them on major decisions.

“Rival clans had agreed that Mirziyoyev would be the public face of the Uzbek leadership with the title of president, but that he would in reality not be able to make independent decisions,” Reuters quoted the sources as saying.

This is not without precedent in Central Asia, where succession issues have dominated politics. In 2006, when Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov died, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, an obscure former dentist, was picked to become president as a compromise by the various power groups. He, though, has since developed a personality cult and rules the country virtually single-handedly.

In Uzbekistan, Karimov had ruled for 25 years, ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, although it was clear that in the last couple of years he and his family had ceded control to other people.

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(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Georgian Dream defeats UNM in parliamentary election

TBILISI, OCT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ruling Georgian Dream coalition government easily won a parliamentary election in Georgia with nearly 50% of the vote, almost double the votes won by the United National Movement party (UNM) of former president Mikheil Saakashvili.

The result confirms Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire bankroller of the Georgian Dream, as the most influential man in the country.

“Instead of a government with confused members, Georgia genuinely has the government that is devoted to people,” he said after victory was declared.

It also, importantly, puts Georgia on an increasingly conservative and pro-Russia trajectory.

The Georgian Dream has allied itself to the Georgian Orthodox Church a staunchly conservative, and influential, institution that abhors homosexuality.

The conservative direction of the new Georgian parliament was bolstered by the entry of the staunchly nationalist and religious Alliance of Patriots for the first time. They cleared the 5% barrier in the proportional representation element of the vote to secure seats in the 150-seat parliament.

The Georgian Dream coalition, now officially headed by PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili , won its first election four years ago, beating the UNM. This year’s election had been dubbed a grudge re-match between the two parties with Mr Ivanishvili and Mr Saakashvili playing Machiavellian roles from the sidelines.

From Ukraine, where he is governor of the Odessa region, Mr Saakashvili said the election had been fixed. “This election was fabricated through many forms of manipulation to get a final result which would bring absolute victory to Georgian Dream,” he said.

But ODIHR, the OSCE’s main election watchdog, said the election had been largely free and fair.

“Strongly competitive and well- run, yesterday’s elections offered an opportunity for voters to make informed choices about their options in a pluralistic but polarized media environment,” Ignacio Sanchez Amor, the leader of the short-term OSCE observer mission, said.

The Central Election Commission said that turnout was around 51%.

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(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Tajik court sentences opposition members

OCT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Tajik court sentenced Buzurgmehr Yorov and Nuriddin Makhamov, two lawyers of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), to 23 and 21 years in prison for fraud and inciting ethnic hatred. Last year, the IRPT was accused of plotting a coup. Human rights lobby groups said the charges against Yorov and Makhamov were trumped up.

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(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

UNM’s poor showing in Georgia’s election

TBILISI, OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian Dream supporters, wearing their trademark blue shirts, celebrated long into the night on Sunday after it became clear that they had won a crushing victory over their rivals, the United National Movement party (UNM).

Make no mistake, the rivalry between the Georgian Dream and the UNM runs deep. Both sides accuse the other of fraud, violence and of trying to destabilise the country and, up until the first votes were cast on Oct. 8, it was unclear which party would win the parliamentary election. The Georgian Dream ruling coalition is bankrolled by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. The UNM is the party of Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who is now the governor of the Odessa region in Ukraine.

Now, it’s clear that the Georgian Dream has scored a major victory which could, potentially, end the UNM’s push for a comeback for good. The Central Election Commission said that the Georgian Dream had polled nearly 49% of the votes in the proportional representation element of the election, against 27% for the UNM. The Georgian Dream vote was down only slightly from 2012, when it won power for the first time, despite the tough economic times but the UNM vote crashed from 40% in 2012.

And it was clear from conversations on the streets of Tbilisi just why the Georgian Dream had won. Essentially the UNM, and Mr Saakashvili, is remembered for poisoning relations with Russia, triggering a 2008 war and torturing prison inmates — an episode highlighted by a TV drama series, paid for by Mr Ivanishvili, which was broadcast shortly before the election.

“People value peace more than economic development,” Lika, a 30-year- old translator, said. “The UNM did a lot for Georgia, but the moment they became authoritarian, they lost our trust.”

These sentiments were shared by Giorgi, a 50-year-old war veteran working as a taxi driver in Tbilisi.

“I voted for the Georgian Dream because there is no alternative. We can’t let the nationalists slip back into power. They were violating laws, torturing, even killing political opponents. I don’t want that. Georgia needs the rule of law first,” he said.

And perhaps, too, Mr Saakashvili also damaged the UNM’s chances. Voters complained that it wasn’t clear what his role was and whether voting for the UNM would mean his return.

Now, after the UNM’s defeat, they won’t find out.

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(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Kazakh President establishes peace prize

OCT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Unable to win the Nobel Peace Prize that he has always reportedly considered himself worthy of for voluntarily surrendering the nuclear weapons that he inherited after the fall of the Soviet Union, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has instead set up his own $1m prize for world peace and nuclear disarmament. He gave the inaugural award to King Abdullah of Jordan for taking in 1.5m Syrian refugees and for his work in making the Middle East a nuclear-free area.

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(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Tajiks want President on banknote

SEPT. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s state insurance company wants to see President Emomali Rakhmon’s head on a 1,000 somoni ($127) bill. Globally, the only living heads of state with their faces on banknotes are royals, notably Queen Elizabeth II, and a few presidents-for-life in Africa and Asia. The proposal could now spark a debate around Mr Rakhmon and his growing personality cult.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Uzbek President bans unscheduled police raids

OCT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s acting President and PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev banned unscheduled police raids on businesses, in a move to improve, at least on paper, Uzbekistan’s business climate.

According to the decree, from January 2017 only pre-approved checks, linked to criminal activity or financial misconduct, can be ordered. This should end police raids, which have been linked to corruption.

This move fits Mr Mirziyoyev’s drive to build a presidential look for himself.

For the past few weeks, he has toured all regions in Uzbekistan, meeting foreign leaders and appearing more approachable than his predecessor Islam Karimov who died at the beginning of September

Mr Mirziyoyev is expected to win a presidential election in December.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)