Tag Archives: government

OSCE starts monitoring Uzbek election

TASHKENT, NOV. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The OSCE, Europe’s democracy watchdog, started its first long-term vote observation mission in Uzbekistan ahead of a presidential election on Dec. 4

ODHIR, the OSCE’s vote monitoring unit, has only previously sent short-term missions to Uzbekistan.

In a statement, ODHIR said the government had invited it to send a long-term monitoring team. This is important because it adds more weight to the impression that Uzbekistan is adopting an outward- looking agenda since the death of Islam Karimov in September. He was regarded as difficult to deal with and mistrustful of the West.

ODHIR will send a 15-person team headed by Swedish diplomat Peter Tejler to Tashkent and 20 more people will be dispatched to the regions.

Another 250 observers will be sent to Uzbekistan a few days before the vote on Dec. 4.

Last year, ODHIR sent a short term mission to monitor a presidential election. They reported that the election had lacked competition and contravened the rule of law.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)

Kazakhstan seeks extradition of police officer

OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan is seeking the extradition of a former mid-ranking police officer based in Almaty who they say headed a crime ring that stole luxury cars from Moscow and resold them in Kazakh cities. The allegations show the extent of corruption within Kazakhstan’s police force. Prosecutors said that the corrupt police officer and his gang stole 500 cars over 10 years. Each car was worth between $50,000 and $120,000.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Gazprom influence grows over Armenia’s government

OCT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan appointed the CEO of Gazprom Armenia, Vardan Harutyunyan, as head of the state revenue committee, a move that confirms the growing influence of Russia’s Gazprom in the government.

In September Mr Sargsyan appointed Karen Karapetyan as PM. Mr Karapetyan had been the mayor of Yerevan and previously, also, CEO of Gazprom Armenia.

Mr Harutyunyan had worked at Gazprom since 2009 and was named CEO in 2010, after Mr Karapetyan’s departure.

After his appointment as PM, Mr Karapetyan also nominated Gazprom’s express secretary, Shushan Sardaryan, as his adviser.

Gazprom Armenia is a fully owned subsidiary of Gazprom, the Russian gas giant. Russia is one of Armenia’s biggest allies, maintaining a large military base in the country.

Mr Harutyunyan’s new position puts him in charge of collecting taxes and administering government revenues.

Heading Gazprom Armenia is one of the most important jobs in the country. Gazprom supplies most of Armenia’s gas, via Georgia, although the government is trying to secure more imports from Iran. Media in Armenia suggested that Tigran Karapetyan, the PM’s 29- year-old son, may be given the job.

Russia has previously been accused of using Gazprom to pressure and influence foreign governments.

ENDS

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

Tajik government proposes special forces’ rights

OCT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik government proposed new amendments to the law on national security forces that will allow them to break into homes without a warrant. The amendments, said to be aimed at strengthening security in the country, need approval from parliament before entering into force. Critics have said that these checks will be used against the opposition.

ENDS

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

Armenia’s parliament approves new tax code

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a third and final reading, Armenia’s parliament approved a controversial new tax code that has been in the works for two years. The new code will reduce the income tax bracket for most of Armenia’s working population, liberalise VAT and tax dividends. Critics of the reform have said that the new tax code will push Armenia into a recession.

ENDS

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

Azerbaijan to initiate ties with the EU

SEPT. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s parliament voted to initiate a rapprochement with the EU, after relations were downgraded last year after the EU criticised Azerbaijan’s human rights record. The resolution follows an official visit by delegates from the EU parliament to Baku earlier in September. Azerbaijan quit the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in Sept. 2015, after a row with the EU and the OSCE over restrictions on parliamentary election observers.

ENDS

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

Uzbekistan registers presidential candidates

SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s Central Election Commission registered all four parties’ candidates for the upcoming presidential election of Dec. 4. Acting President and PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev of the ruling UzLiDeP is the favourite. The People’s Democratic Party’s candidate Khatamzhon Ketmonov and the Social Democratic Party’s candidate Nariman Umarov both participated in a presidential election last year, pulling in less than 3% of the votes each.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Azerbaijans SOFAZ reduces government funds

SEPT. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOFAZ, Azerbaijan’s sovereign oil fund, said it would reduce by 20% its transfers to the state budget, in an effort to balance the country’s economy. In 2017, SOFAZ plans to give the government 6.1b manat ($3.8b). This year, SOFAZ forecast a total of 7.5b manat ($4.6b). As of July 1, SOFAZ holds $35.1b in assets and reserves.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Armenia’s PM appoints new adviser

SEPT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s new PM Karen Karapetyan named Shushan Sardaryan, ex- press secretary of Gazprom Armenia, as an advisor. Previously, Mr Karapetyan served as the director of Gazprom Armenia, the Russian gas giant’s Armenian subsidiary.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Referendum season

SEPT. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – >> Azerbaijan held a referendum this week to tweak its constitution. Didn’t Tajikistan have one in May and hasn’t Kyrgyzstan said it will hold one in December. What’s with all these referendums?

>> The autocrat’s textbook says that every so often you need to call up a referendum to make changes, big or minor, to the constitution, and also to show off just how popular you are. They all have their peculiarities and differences, but leaders from Central Asia and the South Caucasus have all played the referendum card.

In May, 92% of Tajikistan’s voting population turned up to extend presidential powers.

This week, a referendum in Azerbaijan proposed 29 small-scale amendments to the Constitution, which were overwhelmingly adopted, of course.

In the coming months, Kyrgyzstan is likely to have a referendum to grant more powers to the PM.

In previous years, countries across the region have held several referendums. Essentially the aim has been to change the Constitution to allow the incumbent to remain in power by scraping limits on terms, age caps, the length of each term.

>> OK, but are these changes meaningful? Do they have a real impact on politics?

>>These kinds of referendums can be meaningful. From a legal point of view, they change the law. They scrap age requirements to become president — as was the case in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan — and transfer powers from the president to the PM — like Kyrgyzstan’s referendum proposes.

In practice, however, their main aim is for the presidents to retain power or to transfer it to their offspring. There have been notable, and honourable exceptions, of course but not many.

Tajikistan’s referendum this year scrapped limits on presidential terms and lowered the age that a person can run for president to 30 from 35, potentially allowing President Rakhmon’s son, Rustam Emomali, to run for office in 2020.

Azerbaijan had already scrapped limits on presidential term in a referendum in 2009. This time round it lowered the age requirement to 18 from 35 and gave the president the right to dissolve Parliament. President Aliyev’s son Heydar is 19 now. This may be a coincidence, of course.

>> And what about Kyrgyzstan?

>> Kyrgyzstan is a little different. President Almazbek Atambayev will have to leave office next year after his term expires. Some have speculated that, in an effort to avoid losing power he is trying to strengthen the office of PM where he would like to return once he steps down next year.

Certainly his reasons for supporting changes to the constitution are not entirely clear.

The key difference, once again, with other countries in Central Asia, is that Kyrgyzstan’s democracy has advanced further.

>> So, essentially, most of the more seriously autocratic leaders in the region, that’s Azerbaijan and Central Asia with the exception of Kyrgyzstan, have all used referendums to improve their chances of holding on to power? By contrast Georgia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have held referendums in the last few years to boost the power of Parliament over the presidency? Is that right?

>>More of less, although it is important to understand that the drivers of referendums in Georgia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan can also lie in self-interest with incumbent presidents hoping to hold on to power by becoming PM.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)