Constitutional Deal on the Cards

The ongoing confrontation between the opposition and the authorities in Kyrgyzstan could be settled if protesters give up their demand for an early presidential election and focus solely on the question of constitutional reform, observers suggest.



On April 13, the Kyrgyz parliament’s constitutional committee reviewed a set of constitutional amendments proposed by a working group led by Prime Minister Almaz Atambaev and submitted it to the wider legislature.



The day before, as anti-government protests in Bishkek continued for a second day, Felix Kulov, leader of the United Front for a Worthy Future for Kyrgyzstan, said his group’s main demand was now that its preferred version of the constitution – which would curb the president’s powers – should be adopted.



Announcing his draft on April 10, Atambaev said the revisions it contained were based on the constitution that was adopted in November 2006 under pressure from protests led by the opposition Movement for Reforms. That document reduced the president’s powers and strengthened the role of parliament. But in December, Kulov’s resignation as prime minister created a climate in which President Kurmanbek Bakiev was able to reclaim his powers by forcing parliament to pass a further set of constitutional amendments.



The opposition – the United Front working together with the Movement for Reforms - began its open-ended demonstration on April 11. Its leaders say that Atambaev’s proposals differ only slightly from the unpopular December constitution.



Movement for Reforms member Temir Sariev says Atambaev’s version fails to take the opposition’s demands into consideration because it allows “the president to retain fairly strong powers”. Another member of the group, Kubatbek Baibolov, said the opposition draft set out a hybrid system in which the prime minister and presidential were both powerful.



In place of the Atambaev document, the opposition is demanding that the authorities approve their version, a copy of which has already gone to the president personally, according to the Agym newspaper.



But member of parliament Iskhak Masaliev, head of the constitutional committee in parliament, told the AKIpress news agency on April 13 that his committee had not yet received the opposition’s version.



Atambaev’s document could be passed when members of parliament gather on April 16, so to head this off, opposition legislators issued a call on April 13 for an emergency session to be convened at which their version could be reviewed.



Baibolov believes President Bakiev should recall the Atambaev document now under review.



Commentators now think it possible that the Bakiev administration and its opponents could reach an agreement, as long as the latter stop calling for an early presidential election.



“The constitution drafted by the [Atambaev] working group takes account both of the opposition’s demands and the content of the November document,” said political scientist Marat Kazakbaev. “However, the opposition doesn’t want to concede this point because its main demand now is that the president should resign.”



There is still room for the authorities to offer a compromise if parliament agrees to review the opposition draft, because according to Kazakbaev, the differences between the two rival documents are really negligible.



Member of parliament Tairbek Sarpashev says the draft produced by Atambaev is actually better than the November constitution, in that it grants greater powers to the prime minister.



“This version could be adopted, but it all depends on the opposition. It should be satisfied with this version, but demanding an early presidential election is an obstacle to [agreeing] the constitution,” said Sarpashev.



On April 13, opposition supporters began collecting the 300,000 signatures that would be needed to impeach President Bakiev.



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