Tag Archives: election

Georgia drops religion bill

FEB. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament unexpectedly dropped a bill that would have made insulting religion a crime. The bill’s sponsor, an MP for the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, withdrew the bill after it ran into a barrage of controversy for effectively clamping down on free speech. The suspicion was that Georgian Dream was using the bill to try and shore up support amongst supporters of Georgia’s Orthodox Church ahead of a parliamentary election later this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Kazakh president orders spending spree

FEB. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered his government to spend more than 360b tenge ($1b) building houses and supporting small and medium-sized businesses, a policy he hopes will both stimulate Kazakhstan’s flatlining economy and cement support for his Nur Otan party ahead of parliamentary elections next month.

His plan also involves trying to protect both Kazakhstan’s $4b national pension pot by diversifying investments into other currencies and second tier banks by buying up their bonds, a form of financial aid.

With more data showing that low oil prices and a devalued currency have dragged down Kazakhstan’s economy, Mr Nazarbayev appears to have decided that now is the moment to be bold.

“Many countries have found themselves in a difficult situation and are forced to cut social spending, suspend projects, resulting in rising unemployment. Yet we continue building industrial facilities and open new markets,” he told a government meeting. “At the centre of all my orders are the needs of the common man, his well-being and stability.”

Three government financial insti- tutions — the Baiterek Holding company, the House Building Bank of Kazakhstan and the Samruk Kazyna sovereign wealth fund — will admin- ister funds for the house building spending spree, official media reported. The $1b will come from pushing cash earmarked for a social spending in 2017 forward by a year.

Mr Nazarbayev likes to act the father figure, looking after the Kazakh people during times of hardship. This showed through with his emphasis on looking after the common man. He said that his spending plans would create 18,000 jobs, build 42 new schools and extend and improve the electric grid system.

“Full and effective utilisation of funds allocated for the implementation of these measures will stimulate economic activity, support employment and add 1% into economic growth in 2016,” he said.

If Mr Nazarbayev needed a reminder of the battle he faces to turn around the economy, it came from the Central Bank. It said the country’s deficit measured $5.3b in 2015, a result of the currency depreciation. The tenge halved in value in 2015.

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(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Kazakhstan’s Nur Otan packs celebrities onto election list

JAN. 29 2016, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Nur Otan, the political party of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, has packed its list of candidates for next month’s parliamentary election with sportsmen, singers and other household names — reflecting both its status as the establishment party and also its drive to boost its popular appeal.

Candidates for the 127-seat lower house of parliament include champion boxer Gennady Golovkin, Olympic weighlifting gold medal winner Ilya Ilin, and pop stars Zhanar Dugalova and Kairat Nurtas as well as Dariga Nazarbayeva, Mr Nazarbayev’s daughter, and the ex- mayor of Almaty Akhmetzhan Yesimov.

Kazakh political analyst, Adil Nurmakov, said that although Nur Otan had used this strategy previously, they were employing it particularly heavily for this election.

“It is an attempt by the ruling party to position itself as a popular force among celebrities truly loved by the people. I see it as a primitive electoral technique. It has been used numerous times in the past,” he said.

Last month, Mr Nazarbayev called a parliamentary election for March 20, a year earlier than it had been scheduled for, officially because the current parliament had fulfilled its remit.

Analysts, though, said it was called early to head off civil strife as the economic climate worsens. On the streets of Almaty, reaction to the celebratory packed party list was mixed.

“Sportsmen are also people. If the Parliament has sportsmen there will be more discipline,” said Maksat, a sales distributor.

Others were less impressed.

“A deputy should be a person with special education not just a regular boxer or a singer,” said Zinaida Trinojenko, a PR specialist. “It is a delusion.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Kazakh leader calls for early election

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev called a parliamentary election for March 20, more than a year ahead of schedule. Officially MPs asked him to bring the election forward from 2017 because they said that they had fulfilled their mandate. Unofficially, the Kazakh political elite appear to be increasingly worried about civil disobedience linked to worsening economic conditions.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Kazakhstan signals early parliamentary election

JAN. 13 2016, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will likely hold a parliamentary election this year after MPs officially asked President Nursultan Nazarbayev to dissolve the current parliament.

They said that parliament had achieved the mandate it was given at the start of the current parliamentary cycle, although with the Kazakh economy in a perilous state, they may also have decided that it would be far better to deal with an election now rather than wait until 2017.

Kazakhstan’s 107-seat Lower Chamber voted unanimously to approve the dissolution of parliament in what was likely a choreographed decision. All 107 seats are held by pro-Nazarbayev MPs with his Nur Otan party dominating the chamber.

Last year, Kazakhstan also brought forward its presidential election by two years, officially to avoid a clash with the parliamentary election set for 2017.

Election monitors said that by bringing forward the presidential election, Mr Nazarbyaev was able to wrong foot opponents and secure an easy re-election.

Since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has never held an election judged free and fair by Western election monitors.

Under Kazakh law, after officially consulting with the Speakers of the Lower and Upper Chambers of Parliament as well as with Prime Minister, President Nazarbayev can call an early parliamentary election.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Tajikistan cancels pay rise

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik government has cancelled a planned pay rise for state workers, media reported. With inflation rising and the value of its somoni currency falling, the Tajik government had planned the pay rise to boost morale, and loyalty, amongst its staff just before an election last year. With the election fading into memory and an economic slowdown taking a stronger and firmer grip, it appears to have been decided that the pay rise was no longer needed.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Editorial: Kazakhstan’s parliament

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – It doesn’t happen often that a parliament asks the president to order its dissolution and call for elections. But in Kazakhstan, MPs feel they have fulfilled their obligations and, with one voice apparently, asked for an early vote.

The economic downturn could potentially lead to the formation of organised opposition in Kazakhstan and the calling of snap presidential elections last year and, in a similar fashion, this year would prevent dissent.

Although it was the MPs calling for it, the decision to call for early elections came from the top. The elite wants to consolidate its power within the various political institutions in light of a prospective transition.

President Nurtsultan Nazarbayev has indicated that he is likely to hand over to a successor at the end of his current term as president in 2020. If the transition goes as planned, the successor will be chosen from the political elite that is currently in charge of the major institutional positions.

The name of the new speaker of the Majilis and the percentage of seats that go to the ruling Nur Otan party are the two main things to monitor.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Tajikistan sets presidential referendum date

FEB. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s parliament said a referendum on both ditching limits on presidential terms and reducing the minimum age for presidential candidates would be held on May 22, a move widely perceived as allowing Emomali Rakhmon and his family to retain their hold on power.

The 63-year-old Mr Rakhmon has ruled over Tajikistan since a civil war in the mid-1990s. He is generally considered an autocrat who has enriched his family and their supporters and crushed opposition.

Last year the Tajik authorities banned the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, previously the country’s only official opposition party.

Mr Rakhmon appears to be hedging his bets ahead of a presidential election in 2020.

The constitutional changes, which are likely to be voted through by Tajiks more concerned with the economy than political reforms, will mean that he can either stand for a fourth term as president or that his eldest son, Rustam, can run for president. Rustam will be 33 in 2020. The constitutional amendments will reduce the minimum age for presidential candidates to 30 from 35.

People voting in the referendum will also be asked to decide whether to outlaw political parties linked to religion, a move appeared designed to block any splinter group from the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) gaining any popular backing.

Separately, a court in Dushanbe started the trial of 13 members of the IRPT who are accused of radicalism.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Armenians prepare to vote in constitutional referendum

DEC. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia prepared to vote in a referendum which would change the constitution to give the PM more authority in a move that opposition groups have said is designed to strengthen President Serzh Sargsyan’s grip on power.

The debate over the constitution has triggered mass public protests with an estimated 3,000 people marching through Yerevan on Dec. 1 to protest against the referendum set for Dec. 6

The demonstrators said that the proposed changes were a scam to hand Mr Sargsyan more power when he leaves the presidency at the end of his final two year term in 2018.

Mr Sargsyan and his party have said that he has no plans to become PM once he quits as president.

Instead he has argued that the current system of split responsibilities between the PM and the president could create a weakness in emergencies.

Opinion polls in the run-up to the vote said it would be close with, perhaps, those who said they would vote for the changes marginally ahead.

Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have already shifted power away from their presidents to parliament and the PM. Each said the changes were needed to modernise their political systems.

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(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Azerbaijan’s president party wins parliamentary election

NOV. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – As expected, the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party won parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, securing President Ilham Aliyev’s control over the legislative assembly.

Azerbaijan’s Central Election Committee said that Yeni Azerbaijan had won 69 seats in the 125-seat parliament, slightly lower than five years ago. Independent MPs, who are in reality loyal to Mr Aliyev, won most of the other seats, giving him near total control.

Mr Aliyev said that the result reflected the will of Azerbaijan’s people and gave him a mandate for change.

“The factors, hindering the development of the country, as well as corruption cases should be eliminated. There is a strong political will and public support for achieving it,” he told media after the election.

The West had criticised Azerbaijan for cracking down on civil liberties and in the run-up to the election its main vote monitoring watchdog, the OSCE’s ODHIR, pulled out of covering the election after a row with the Azerbaijani authorities over the number of monitors it was allowed.

Tension has grown this year between the West and Azerbaijan. After the election result the US said: “We continue to have concerns about the restrictive political environment in Azerbaijan and urge the Government of Azerbaijan to respect the freedoms of peaceful assembly, association, and independent voices including the media.”

Russia, by contrast, praised the election as free and fair. European vote monitors have never said an election in Azerbaijan was free or fair.

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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)