Tag Archives: government

Editorial: Georgia’s government

APRIL 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the past few months, impatience has been the most common sentiment in Georgia’s political circles.

There was a change of PM at the end of last year, then the Republican Party announced it would run separately at the next election and now the once-loyal National Forum party withdrew from the government coalition.

But the most impatient move appears to have been played by President Giorgi Margvelashvili and PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili who announced the date for the autumn parliamentary elections for Oct. 8.

By convention, elections in Georgia are held in October, the government needs to give just two months of notice. Setting it up six months in advance was unnecessary. Unless, that is, the aim was to kick off electioneering early.

Voters and fellow coalition members are losing confidence in Georgian Dream. By setting the election date now, it might fancy it has more of a chance of persuading a sceptical public that it needs second term in power. It certainly has the deep pockets of Georgian billionaire, former PM and Georgian Dream financier to lean upon.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Georgian Dream’s partner quits government coalition

APRIL 4 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — The National Forum, previously seen as one of the government’s most loyal junior partners, quit the Georgian Dream-led governing coalition, dealing a major blow to the coalition’s hopes of retaining a majority at a parliamentary election later this year.

The Georgian Dream coalition now has a thin majority in parliament, holding 82 seats out of a total of 150. The National Forum has six MPs. Its decision to quit government came only a few days after the Republican party, also part of the coalition government, said that it would campaign on a separate slate at the parliamentary election.

Korneli Kakachia, director of the local non-partisan think tank the Georgian Institute of Politics, said that recent government policies by the Georgian Dream party had irritated its junior partners.

“This is pretty damaging to the Georgian Dream, as the National Forum were very loyal partners. Their announcement will raise questions with the voters,” he said. “The other parties are still in the coalition, but their support for new laws is not assured. Especially not the recently proposed bill by Georgian Dream to allow the PM to stay in office and run for MP at the same time.”

Under the current legislation, the PM can’t run for election as an MP. The Georgian Dream, though, want to change this as they want current PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili to head their party list.

But splits in the coalition has impacted its popularity with voters. Luka, 32, leaned against his BMW taxi. “If they can’t even keep their coalition together, how can they rule a country?” he said.

Standing next to him, 58-year-old Giorgi nodded his head in agreement. “I voted for them in the last election, but I’m not sure I’ll give them my vote in October,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Georgian election splits coalition

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Republican Party, which is part of the government coalition with the ruling Georgian Dream party, said it will run independently at parliamentary elections scheduled for October. PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said this does not mean that Republican Party deputies will now have to withdraw support for the coalition or that its ministers will have to leave the government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Kazakh Pres. sacks energy minister

MARCH 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked former energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik immediately after a parliamentary election. This was part of a government reshuffle that switched several top-bureaucrats in government and local administrations. Mr Shkolnik, the highest-profile government official to be sacked, was replaced by power sector veteran Kanat Bozumbayev.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Nur Otan drops Dariga Nazarbayeva as MP

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – ALMATY — The results of the parliamentary elections may have been expected but there was a surprise lined up. A few days days after the vote the Nur Otan party dropped Dariga Nazarbayeva, eldest daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, from its list of MPs (March 24).

The Conway Bulletin’s Central Asia newswire service (the Silk Road Intelligencer) broke the news on Thursday that Ms Nazarbayeva’s had been dropped by Nur Otan as an MP.

MP in 2012-14 and also held the post of deputy PM since last September, was in line to return to the lower house of Parliament and be nominated as speaker.

This would have granted her a powerful and respected position and also signalled that she was being lined up as a potential successor for her 75-year-old father as Kazakhstan’s second post-Soviet president.

There has been no explanation to the apparent change of plan but it set off various theories on the Kazakh presidential succession issue.

And last week, too, Ms Nazarbayeva’s son, 31-year-old Nurali Aliyev, quit as deputy mayor of Astana apparently to pursue business interests.

This effectively means that in one week, two key members of the president’s family have taken a step back from influential political positions.

One theory previously been put forward for Kazakhstan’s succession issue was that Ms Nazarbayeva would take over in the short term as president before making way for her son. That now appears off the agenda.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Editorial: Kazakh Pres. daughter’s moves

MARCH 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Observers expected one major outcome from Kazakhstan’s parliamentary election. Dariga Nazarbayeva’s nomination as an MP and her ascendency to be parliament’s Speaker, an important constitutional role and a stepping stone to higher office. But it didn’t come through.

Has she fallen out with her father, the 75-year-old Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev? Her son, Nurali Aliyev, resigned as deputy mayor of Astana earlier this month. Coincidences are rare in Kazakh politics.

Is she adopting a more low-key approach? This could be one way of dodging future tough austerity policies that the government will inevitably adopt to survive a worsening economic crisis.

Whatever the greater game plan is, one thing is for sure. Kazakhstan’s succession issue will once again dominate Kazakh politics.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Kazakh ministries ban smart phones

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Government ministries in Kazakhstan have banned smart phones from buildings to try and stop official documents being leaked. The ban, apparently, was to try and stop officials from photographing documents with their smart phone and then sending them on to people using WhatsApp. Kazakhstan has launched a number of drives over the past few years to try and professionalise its civil service.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Georgia picks CBanker

MARCH 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank picked Koba Gvenetadze, a former IMF banker, to be its chief, replacing Giorgi Kadagidze whose term finished in February. The following day, President Giorgi Margvelashvili approved Mr Gvenetadze’s 7-year term at the Bank. Georgia’s economy has been under increased pressure from the falling value of the lari and rising inflation linked to a fall in oil prices and recession in Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Sex blackmail scandal rocks Georgia

MARCH 11/14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Georgian government officials and opposition MPs appear to have been the target of a blackmail plot after a series of sex tapes were posted online.

Videos of two Georgian women MPs and two men from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, apparently having extramarital sex, were uploaded to Youtube.

The videos were taken down quickly but not before news of their existence had gone viral. Georgia’s conservative society was both outraged by the videos of the officials having sex and also at the breach of privacy.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said the security agencies had detained five people in connection with the plot.

“All the law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation, we need to put an end to terrorising the society with such videos once and for all,” he said.

News reports said the originators of the videos contacted their targets before uploading the videos, demanding that they resign from their posts.

For Georgians the emergence of the videos is a reminder of the old- school Soviet- style pressure techniques which they thought they had left behind.

It’s unclear if the blackmail plot is linked to a parliamentary election planned for later this year.

Privacy, surveillance, and blackmail are all hot issues with the upcoming elections next October. The current government campaigned strongly against surveillance of citizens and politicians before they came to power in 2012.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Kazakh President’s grandson quits as Astana deputy mayor

MARCH 16 2016, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurali Aliyev, grandson of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, quit his position as deputy mayor of Astana to pursue his business goals, a move that draws him away from the succession debate.

His decision came just days before a parliamentary election, in which his mother, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter Dariga, was standing for re-election.

“I’m looking to work in business development in a financial niche,” media quoted 31-year-old Mr Aliyev as saying. “For many years, before working in the akimat, I was engaged in business.”

Mr Aliyev is the son of Dariga Nazarbayeva and the late Rakhat Aliyev, who was found dead in a Vienna prison in February 2015. He had been charged with the murder of two bankers at Kazakhstan’s Nurbank in 2006.

Prior to being appointed as deputy mayor of Astana in 2014, Mr Aliyev had worked in Kazakhstan’s banking, telecoms and transport sectors.

But it was his shock appointment in December 2014 to one of the Kazakh capital’s most important positions, that threw him into the public limelight and set off rumours that he was being groomed for the top job.

His grandfather, Pres. Nazarbayev, is 75 years old and has said that he is nearing retirement. What he hasn’t done is set out a clear succession schedule.

One of the theories put forward after Mr Aliyev’s appointment as deputy mayor of Astana was that his mother would take over the top job in four or five years time and, effectively, keep the seat warm for her son to take over when he was old enough. The Kazakh constitution states that the minimum age for a president is 40.

Other than citing a preference to resume a business career, Mr Aliyev didn’t say why he was quitting as deputy mayor of Astana.

What his resignation definitely has done, though, is set off renewed Kazakh presidential succession speculation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)