Government Will be Less Independent Without Kulov

After the Kyrgyz parliament twice rejected the nomination of Felix Kulov to become prime minister, President Kurmanbek Bakiev this week decided not to persist, and proposed a little-known minister instead. If parliament approves Azim Isabekov as prime minister, analysts say the cabinet will enjoy less independence than Kulov’s did.



Contrary to many expectations, parliament rejected Kulov, the previous prime minister who had stayed on in a caretaker role, after Bakiev put his name forward a second time this week. Bakiev reacted on January 26 by proposing Isabekov, currently the acting minister of agriculture, water resources and processing industries.



Valentin Bogatyrev, vice-president of the Vostok think-tank, pointed out a discrepancy in the legislation covering the eventuality that Isabekov, too fails to win parliamentary approval, “If he acts according to the Law on Government, the president could [then] dissolve parliament. But the latest, December version of the constitution does not envisage that parliament will be dissolved even if a proposed prime minister is rejected three times.”



NBCentralAsia sources note that Isabekov, native of the Chui region, had already been mentioned as a possible replacement for Kulov, but he is note a well-known figure. According to Bogatyrev, he has “a good track-record as a state official, and will carry out the president’s will.”



Tamerlan Ibraimov, director of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, agrees that Isabekov would play the role of technocrat as prime minister.



Omurbek Tekebaev, formerly speaker of parliament and now a rank-and-file deputy, said that whoever becomes prime minister - Isabekov or someone else – will be less independent than Kulov. “He [any prime minister] will play a technical role, so that by 2010 we will have a presidential style of government. Any future prime minister will be entirely dependent on the president, who, I believe, will propose someone who will carry out his will.”



The departure of Kulov, who resigned on December 19 but carried on as acting prime minister, marks the end of the “tandem”, the political pact that Bakiev and Kulov concluded on the eve of the 2005 presidential election.



Bogatyrev believes Kulov will now focus on building up his political party, Arnamys. “If they do a good job, the party stands a chance of winning a majority in parliament,” he said.



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