MARCH 31 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s President Roza Otunbayeva sacked the Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General Kubatbek Baibolov over links to a corruption scandal centred on the privatisation of mobile operator MegaCom. Mr Baibolov denies the allegations. The next day a row in parliament over the scandal between two deputies triggered a brief fight.
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(News report from Issue No. 34, published on April 4 2011)
MARCH 29 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sacked national security minister Charymyrat Amanov for unspecified “shortcomings”, state TV said. Mr Amanov had been in the post since 2007. President since December 2006, Mr Berdymukhamedov has often sacked minsters suddenly and with no explanation.
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(News report from Issue No. 34, published on April 4 2011)
APRIL 3 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – As expected, President Nursultan Nazarbayev won Kazakhstan’s presidential election. The Central Election Committee said Mr Nazarbayev won 95% of the vote with a turnout of 90%. International observers said they had recorded incidences of ballot stuffing and intimidation.
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(News report from Issue No. 34, published on April 4 2011)
APRIL 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nursultan Nazarbayev got what he wanted from Kazakhstan’s presidential election on April 3.
The Central Election Committee said he won with 95% of the vote. So, while rulers in the Middle East contend with popular uprisings, Nazarbayev has won a huge mandate to extend his 20 year rule by another five years.
But although support for Nazarbayev is high, the detail shows his victory may not have been as comprehensive as the headline figures suggest.
The main opposition boycotted the vote and said Nazarbayev’s three challengers were put up by the authorities to give the election a veneer of competition and despite an official turnout of 90%, a Conway Bulletin correspondent in Almaty found plenty of people who had not voted.
People also said they had been coerced into voting. In Shymkent, a city in southern Kazakhstan, a construction worker called Nazir said: “They told us that if we didn’t vote we would not be paid. So, we voted.”
International election monitors also said they had recorded incidences of ballot stuffing and intimidation. But in an opinion piece in the Washington Post on March 31, Nazarbayev wrote described Kazakhstan’s economic achievements and appeared to pre-empt criticism of the vote.
“It took the great democracies of the world centuries to develop,” he said. “We are not going to become a fully developed democracy overnight. But we have proved that we can deliver on our big ambitions.”
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(News report from Issue No. 34, published on April 4 2011)
APRIL 2 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Opposition groups in Azerbaijan said police arrested 15 activists the day before a planned anti-government rally. Concerned that popular uprisings in the Middle East may spread, the authorities in Azerbaijan have cracked down on protests. Police detained dozens of demonstrators at an unsanctioned rally on April 2.
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(News report from Issue No. 34, published on April 4 2011)
MARCH 28 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Committee to Protect Journalists and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) expressed concern over media freedom in Azerbaijan after an opposition reporter said 6 men beat him (March 28, 2011). Seimur Khaziyev works for the Azadlyg newspaper. Azadlyg staff have previously been beaten and jailed for hooliganism and drugs charges.
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(News report from Issue No. 33, published on March 28 2011)
MARCH 24 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The build up to Kazakhstan’s April 3 vote has been unfair, said Europe’s election monitoring watchdog, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). It said the media is restricted and murky laws prevented potential candidates from running. President Nursultan Nazarbayev is expected to easily win the election.
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(News report from Issue No. 33, published on March 28 2011)
MARCH 17 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a sign of escalating tension in Armenia, around 10,000 anti-government protesters defied riot police to temporarily occupy the centre of Yerevan’s main square. Police had barracked off Freedom Square but withdrew when the crowd approached. Protesters have called for snap elections.
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(News report from Issue No. 32, published on March 21 2011)
MARCH 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Anti-government protesters in Armenia may draw inspiration from revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East but their demonstrations are very different in character.
This year protests in Armenia have grown steadily and on March 17 roughly 10,000 people occupied Freedom Square, Yerevan’s main square. Protesters have promised a revolution unless President Serzh Sargsyan calls an election. They accuse him of nepotism and corruption, allegations he denies.
But unlike the Tunisia and Egypt uprisings these protests are neither leaderless nor spontaneous.
Opposition groups in Armenia and their leaders are well established. Levon Ter-Petrosyan is a former president and heads the Armenian National Congress. His fiery speeches have whipped up anti-government sentiment.
He is not the only opposition leader. The US-born Raffi Hovannisyan is a member of parliament and leader of the more moderate Heritage Party.
Hovannisian started a hunger strike in Freedom Square on March 15. Two days later the protesters occupied the square but Ter-Petrosyan and Hovannisyan avoided speaking to one another, a visible sign of their disagreements. These divisions weaken the opposition.
The protesters and their demands also appear rooted to 2008 when Mr Sargsyan won a disputed election victory and 8 demonstrators died in a clash with the security forces.
Armenia’s next presidential election is set for 2013 and Mr Sargsyan has already said he will stand.
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(News report from Issue No. 32, published on March 21 2011)
MARCH 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nursultan Nazarbayev’s victory may be assured in Kazakhstan’s April 3 presidential election but a contest is emerging over turnout. The authorities want turnout to hit around 80% but the main opposition parties are boycotting the election and are campaigning for a no vote. To counter this, TV stations and celebrities have been persuading people to vote.
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(News report from Issue No. 31, published on March 14 2011)