Akaev's Daughter Appeals Against Election Ban

Bermet Akaeva, the daughter of former president Askar Akaev, has appealed to Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court to challenge a decision that disqualifies her from running for parliament. NBCentralAsia observers say that Akaeva could be an “inconvenient” deputy for the authorities, and this may have caused her current legal problems.



A by-election in the Kemin constituency is scheduled to take place on April 29, to fill a seat left vacant when Aidar Akaev, Bermet Akaeva’s brother, was stripped of his mandate for failing to attend parliamentary sessions last year.



Bermet Akaeva, daughter of the former president who was ousted by a popular revolt in 2005, is one of 14 candidates for the Kemin seat.



Her rivals brought a court action against her one week before the election, accusing her of bribing voters and failing to meet election legislation which requires all candidates to have been resident in Kyrgyzstan for at least five years before standing.



Akaeva has lived in Russia since March 2005, when her father was driven out of Kyrgyzstan.



Her case was heard at Kemin district court, where the hearings have been extremely heated. One judge who initially ruled in Akaeva’s favour later said he had been pressured by her supporters, and handed the case over to a different judge, who banned her from standing for election.



On April 24, several hundred of Akaeva’s supporters blocked one of the key highways from Bishkek to two northern regions of Kyrgyzstan for several hours. As a result of the protest, her case has been directed to the Supreme Court, which will make its final decision this week.



Kurmanbek Osmonov, head of the Supreme Court, says it is possible that Akaeva’s supporters may try to influence the new decision. He warns that what happened at Kemin might have an impact on the broader political situation in the country if it is ignored.



“People are now reacting immediately to court orders when a citizen’s rights are violated. The law should apply equally to everyone,” he said.



Tamerlan Ibraimov, director of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, says Akaeva’s case could be exploited by the opposition to fuel more discontent with the president.



“The situation in Kemin may be of a local nature, but it could be used by the opposition. There could be [public expressions of] discontent about the authorities restricting a citizen’s right to stand for election,” he said.



According to political observer Turat Akimov, “letting” Bermet Akaeva into parliament does not work in the authorities’ interests.



“The authorities really don’t need Akaeva behaving unpredictably if she gets into parliament. She might create a new faction from former members of Alga Kyrgyzstan [the leading party under Askar Akaev] and raise issues that could discredit the current authorities.”



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