New Premier Should be Able to Work With Parliament

Kyrgyzstan’s new prime minister Azim Isabekov is likely to get on better with parliament than his predecessor Felix Kulov, NBCentralAsia commentators say.



On January 29, President Kurmanbek Bakiev signed a decree appointing Azim Isabekov, formerly the acting minister of agriculture, water resources and processing industries, as Kyrgyzstan’s new prime minister. Parliament approved the nomination earlier the same day, by a vote of 57 of the 61 deputies present.



Isabekov replaced Felix Kulov, who resigned together with the rest of the cabinet on December 19, but stayed on as caretaker prime minister. Bakiev put Kulov’s name forward twice but parliament turned it down on each occasion.



Political analysts say Isabekov’s appointment averted a crisis between the executive and legislature.



Valentin Bogatyrev, vice-president of the Vostok think-tank in Bishkek, said the new prime minister was by nature “fairly tolerant”, which was likely to mean that “he won’t come into conflict with parliament much”.



“He’s likely to deal with parliament in a more diplomatic way, and build up more of a working relationship with it,” he said.



Tamerlan Ibraimov, president of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, also based in Bishkek, said that for its part, “parliament won’t probably be so hostile to the new government as was to the old one. Its members won’t raise difficult issues.”



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