Getting Women into Parliament

Although Kyrgyzstan currently has no women in its parliament, gender experts say electoral competition rather than quotas remains the best way of correcting the gross imbalance in political representation. But they emphasise that the electoral system will need to be reformed before that can happen.



On March 3, the Moya Strana (My Country) proposed a mechanism for boosting female numbers in the legislature, under which eight would be appointed by President Kurmanbek Bakiev and seven nominated by various parliamentary factions.



Just three of Kyrgyzstan’s 75 parliamentary seats went to women in the February-March 2005 election, but all the deputies have since been stripped of their mandates after being accused of violating election rules.



Despite this, Bubuysha Arstanbekova, head of the non-government Akyikat Jolu (Road to Justice) group, argues that the reason are no women in the parliament is that they abuse the system less than men do. “During parliamentary elections, male candidates don’t hesitate to use illegal methods like bribing voters, which women don’t usually do,” she said.



Men look set to dominate the next election too, according to Klara Ajibekova, head of the Party of Communists of Lyrgyzstan.



“During the coming election, the electorate will vote not for policies, but for money. I assume that the seats in the new parliament will be occupied by businessmen again,” she said.



Justice Minister Marat Kayipov says that if women fail to win any seats in the next election, the constitution should be changed to give the Kyrgyz president powers to appoint women to parliament even if they have not been voted in. The president does not currently have the constitutional power to do so.



But Anara Niazova, the president’s representative in parliament on gender issues, worries that if women are appointed by a quota system, they will not enjoy the same status as other members.



“A woman who gets into parliament through presidential degree rather than election will not feel like a rightful deputy,” she said.



Others agree that women should win parliamentary seats through the ballot box, not by means of quotas and appointments.



Toktogul Kakchekeev, spokesman for the prosecutor general’s office, said, “Allocating quotas to women will violate their constitutional rights. Under the constitution, men and women are equal. The proposed appointment of women to parliament is contrary to the law and the constitution,” office said.



According to Kakchekeev, the number of women in positions of power can be increased without flouting the law by appointing them to other posts in state institutions.



Roza Aknazarova, head of the El Yntymagy (People’s Accord) party, suggests that women should not be handed jobs, and argues instead that the proportional representation system stipulated by the recently-adopted Kyrgyz constitution could be used to make it easier for women to get into parliament.



“We have to arrive at adequate levels of female representation in parliament by amending the electoral code and the political party law. Women should be equally represented on party lists,” she said.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)