Tag Archives: politics

Kazakhstan’s Communist party suspended

OCT. 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Kazakhstan suspended for six months the opposition Communist Party for trying to team up with an unregistered party with links to exiled billionaire Mukhtar Ablyazov who wants to unseat President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The ban could mean the Communist party misses the next parliamentary election which is scheduled for the first half of 2012.

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(News report from Issue No. 60, published on Oct. 11 2011)

Protesters step up demonstration in Armenia

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OCT. 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Hundreds of anti-government protesters have defied the police and camped in Yerevan’s main square since Friday, AFP reported. They want early parliamentary elections and have pledged to stay in the square for a week. The authorities have said that they are breaking the law.

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(News report from Issue No. 59, published on Oct. 4 2011)

Election campaigning starts in Kyrgyzstan

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SEPT. 25 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Campaigning started in Kyrgyzstan for a presidential election on Oct. 30. The central election commission whittled down 83 potential candidates to 20 but analysts don’t expect a winner in the first round and anticipate a run-off between PM Almazbek Atambayev, from the north, and a more nationalist candidate from the south.

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(News report from Issue No. 58, published on Sept. 27 2011)

Street protests resume in Armenia

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SEPT. 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – As many as 6,000 people gathered for the first opposition street demonstration in Yerevan for months, local media reported. Talks between the government and the opposition alliance (HAK) have stalled since Aug. 26 over the detention by police of a HAK youth activist. More protests are planned.

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(News report from Issue No. 56, published on Sept. 12 2011)

Armenian opposition suspends talks with government

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SEPT. 1 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s opposition coalition (HAK) suspended talks with the government and threatened to organise protests, local media reported. The talks, important for Armenia’s stability, started in July. HAK complained police had unfairly detained one of their activists.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 55, published on Sept. 6 2011)

Human rights lawyer sent to prison in Azerbaijan

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AUG. 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Baku sentenced human rights lawyer Khalid Bagirov to three years in prison for interfering in a 2010 parliamentary election. The authorities in Azerbaijan have jailed a number of anti-government protesters this year. Police arrested Bagirov in April during an anti-government protest. He said he has been jailed for reporting vote rigging.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 54, published on Aug. 30 2011)

Ruling party wins all Senate seats in Kazakhstan

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AUG. 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s ruling party, Nur-Otan, won all 16 seats available in a senate election, underlining its grip on politics. Nur-Otan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s party, controls all 47 seats in the Senate and all 77 seats in the Majilis, Parliament’s lower chamber.

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(News report from Issue No. 54, published on Aug. 30 2011)

Georgia’s breakaway region Abkhazia elects president

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AUG. 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The pro-Russian rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia elected 59-year-old Alexander Ankvab as its new president. Mr Ankvab won 55% of the vote, easily defeating his rivals including PM Sergei Shamba who some analysts said had been the Kremlin’s favoured choice. Russia hailed the election’s transparency. Georgia dismissed it as illegal.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 54, published on Aug. 30 2011)

Georgian opposition leader’s husband jailed

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AUG. 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Georgia sentenced in absentia the husband of opposition leader Nina Burjanadze, Badri Bitsadze, to 5-1/2 years in prison for organising paramilitary groups to attack police at a protest on May 26. Bitsadze, who has been in hiding since the protest, has said he is innocent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 54, published on Aug. 30 2011)

Armenian opposition threaten to scrap talks

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AUG. 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s opposition alliance, the Armenian National Congress (HAK), threatened to quit talks with the government after the arrest of seven of its activists for allegedly attacking policemen, local media reported. The activists deny the charges and say police beat them. The talks are considered key to maintaining stability in Armenia.

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(News report from Issue No. 53, published on Aug. 17 2011)