Tag Archives: government

Tajikistan sacks Central Bank chief

MAY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon sacked the head of Tajikistan’s Central Bank Abdujabbor Shirinov, media reported, an apparent reaction to the continued slide of the somoni currency.

This year the somoni has nose-dived by around 20% against the US dollar as it struggled to cope with a fall in the value of the Russian rouble and a dip in Russia’s economy which has hit remittances.

Mr Shirinov, a previous Tajik ambassador to the United States and head of the Central Bank since 2012 has taken increasingly desperate measures to defend the currency. Last month he ordered exchange kiosks to be banned but instead of giving the government more control over its currency, it just forced money changers into the black market.

The Dushanbe-based ASIA-Plus reported that Jamshed Nourmahmadzoda had been appointed Tajikistan’s new Central Bank chief. Mr Nourmahmadzoda was previously head of Amonatbonk.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Georgian Dream criticises Central Bank

APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, and a former Georgian PM, has once again criticised the Central Bank for failing to stop a depreciation of the lari currency, media reported. The previous government, loathed by Mr Ivanishvili, appointed the current Central Bank chief.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Kyrgyz PM resigns after failure to end gold row

APRIL 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Djoomart Otorbayev resigned as Kyrgyzstan’s PM after barely a year in office.

The 59-year-old former international economist was the fourth Kyrgyz PM to resign since constitutional reform shifted power from the president to parliament in 2010.

Earlier this month the Kyrgyz government appeared to change tack significantly and argue for a great number of directors on the Centerra Gold board rather than the creation of a new company, with a 50:50 ownership, to run Kumtor.

His resignation was linked to the failure to secure a permanent solution to the ongoing row with Canada’s Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor gold mine in east Kyrgyzstan — the country’s single biggest industrial asset.

“I think my decision to resign will allow the majority coalition to choose a more decisive prime minister,” Kyrgyz media quoted Mr Otorbayev as saying.

Kyrgyzstan owns 32.7% of Centerra Gold, which is listed in Toronto, and has been looking to boost its influence over the mine.

Importantly, Mr Otorbayev’s resignation highlights the unstable nature of Kyrgyz politics and also the dominance of the Kumtor ownership issue.

The three-party majority coalition now has 15 days to nominate a new PM for parliament.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kyrgyz newspaper complains

APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A major newspaper in Kyrgyzstan complained of repressive action ordered by President Almazbek Atambayev in the build up to a parliamentary election later this year, Eurasianet reported. The Vechernii Bishkek newspaper supports the opposition, Eurasianet reported.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Massimov re-affirmed as Kazakh PM

APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a constitutional formality, the Kazakh government resigned immediately after Nursultan Nazerbayev was re-elected as president for the fifth time. He re-appointed his trusted lieutenant Karim Massimov as PM, ensuring stability in the government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Georgia’s government collapses

APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian sports minister Levan Kipiani resigned after a row with a parliamentary committee, triggering a vote of confidence in PM Irakli Garibashvili’s government.

In-fighting has dogged Mr Garibashvili’s Georgian Dream coalition government since it was voted into power in October 2012 and his opponents now sense an opportunity to kill it off.

Nino Burjanadze, a former PM and now an opposition leader, said: “Early parliamentary elections and real changes in the government are the only option at the moment”

Georgia is grappling with a fiercely divided political scene and a worsening economy linked to a decline in Russia’s finances.

The governmental crisis makes stability even more precarious. Mr Kipiani was the seventh member of Mr Garibashvili’s 20-member cabinet to quit. Under the constitution if a third of ministers resign, a no confidence vote is triggered within seven days.

And the Georgian Dream majority in parliament is wafer thin.

A handful of defections means that it holds 75 seats out of the current 149 filled seats. One seat is empty.

This means there is no guarantee the government will survive the vote, and if it fails, new elections are likely.

It is the speed of the government’s collapse that has taken people by surprise. Mr Kipiani was the third member of the government to resign in quick succession, following environment minister Elguja Khokrishvili and regional development minister Davit Shavliashvili.

Will Dunbar, a Tbilisi-based analyst, said: “To lose one minister in a week looks bad, to lose three looks like care- lessness and carelessness is one thing this government does well.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Georgian politicians visit Kiev

APRIL 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Georgian parliamentary delegation visited Kiev in an overt show of support for Ukraine’s pro-West government. The Kiev government is battling rebels in the east of Ukraine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Interpol removed Georgian Prosecutors notice

APRIL 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a snub to the Georgian Prosecutor-General, Interpol removed a wanted notice on former justice minister Zurab Adeishvili. The EU and the US have said the Georgia legislation targets governing Georgian Dream coalition is using legal mechanisms to go after officials linked to former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Georgia is heading for a close parliamentary election

APRIL 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The latest polling by the International Republican Institute (IRI), makes uneasy reading for the Georgian Dream coalition.

The poll, released in late March, shows support for Georgian Dream dropping to 35%. This is bad news for Georgian Dream, but so is the story told by the other numbers: 14% of likely voters say they support the United National Movement (UNM) of ex-president Saakashvili, 12% say they support nobody, and 11% refused to answer.

If these numbers look familiar to Georgian Dream politicians, it’s because they are disturbingly similar to a poll taken in summer 2012 by IRI’s sister organization, the National Democratic Institute (NDI). That poll, now infamous in Georgian political history, was the last taken before Georgian Dream swept to victory in November 2012, and everybody interpreted it all wrong.

In summer 2012, 37% said they’d vote for the incumbent UNM, while 12% responded Georgian Dream. When Georgian Dream went on to win almost 60% on the day pollsters were flummoxed, and many uncharitably said NDI were in cahoots with the UNM. In fact, that poll revealed much more about Georgian’s voting habits than anyone expected. 22% of respondents said they did not know who to vote for, and 21% refused to answer. Fear, embarrassment and a mistrust of polling organizations had led 43% of Georgians to keep their opinions to themselves. On the election day, this 43% gave their votes to Georgian Dream and surprised everyone by precipitating Georgia’s first peaceful transfer of power.

The same thing is happening in reverse in the latest IRI poll. The UNM scored over 20% in elections in 2013 and 2014, and today’s sluggish economy and devalued lari mean more people now miss the Saakashvili era.

If the 23% of respondents who refused to answer or said they support no one are really hidden UNM voters, it would take UNM support up to 37%, about the same as Georgian Dream.

There is a long way to go before the next parliamentary elections in 2016, but if the polls are to be believed, and if you know how to read them, it is shaping up tobea closer race than many would like to believe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Kazakhstan builds up an election

APRIL 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan prepared for a presidential election on April 26 that will extend the 26-year rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s only post-Soviet leader. He called an election to impose his authority during an economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)