Kyrgyzstan—Political System

Bordering Kazakstan to the north, China to the east, Uzbekistan to the west, and Tajikistan to the south, Kyrgyzstan is a presidential republic that declared independence in 1991, shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its first elected president, Askar Akayev (b. 1944), was elected by the parliament in October 1990 and then elected in nationwide elections in October 1991. He was reelected to a second term in December 1995 and to a third term in October 2000.

The Kyrgyz lived a pastoral-nomadic life along the upper reaches of the Yenisey river before migrating south to the Tian Shan region around the tenth century. Ruled by various Turkic peoples until 1685, the Kyrgyz tribes came under Mongol rule until 1785, when the Manchus conquered the region from the east. In the early nineteenth century the territory inhabited by the Kyrgyz came under the control of the khanate of Kokand. The Russian empire exercised dominance over the khanate from 1876 until the October Revolution of 1917, after which the entire Central Asian region commonly known as Turkistan was eventually incorporated into the Soviet Union. In 1918 the newly created Turkistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic included Kyrgyzstan. In 1924 the Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast (region) was established, and two years later, it was renamed the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic.

The Kyrgyz tribes were forced to settle beginning in the 1920s, when Soviet administrative rule began to establish urban centers and impose agricultural collectivization. Subsequently, ethnic Russians dominated the government structures until the late 1950s. Not until Leonid Brezhnev headed the Soviet Union (1962–1982) did Soviet central authority finally allow an ethnic Kyrgyz elite to assume the republic's top posts. Brezhnev encouraged a patrimonial system and demanded loyalty to Moscow in exchange for partial transfer of power to local cadres. This arrangement fostered systemic corruption that still persists.

The Soviet Union's election of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 and the subsequent introduction of perestroika and glasnost allowed the emergence of informal political and social movements and organizations with various agendas. Although the Communist Party opposed these movements, it could not control the growing demand for greater political freedom or contain ethnic hostility. In 1989 one such organization, Osh Aymagi, called for the distribution of vacant land among the ethnic Kyrgyz to alleviate acute housing shortages in the southern region of Osh. Uzbek and Kyrgyz inhabitants clashed violently in disputes over land and housing, with casualties estimated at one thousand. In October 1990, two months after the Osh disturbances, the Kyrgyz Supreme Soviet called for the selection of a new president to restore normalcy. Askar Akayev, a physicist by profession, replaced Abasamat Masaliyev and abolished the post of First Secretary of the Communist Party.

Akayev called for liberalization of the polity and encouraged political pluralism. Later he introduced sweeping economic reforms that accelerated the republic's transition to a market economy. In 1991 Akayev replaced the Council of Ministers with a Western-style cabinet and appointed reformist politicians. A combination of parliamentary hostility and allegations of high-level corruption led to an open confrontation between the reform-minded president and the largely Communist-oriented parliament. In 1994 a referendum led to the dissolution of the old unicameral parliament in favor of a bicameral legislature. Since 1995 Akayev has curbed the earlier press and political freedoms, forcing the opposition to limit its criticism of the government and its policies.

The first post-Communist constitution of Kyrgyzstan, adopted on 5 May 1993, called for the separation of powers and a limited government. Subsequently, however, several amendments increased presidential powers to parliament's detriment. These amendments included a provision for creating a small 105-seat bicameral assembly, the Jogorku Kenesh, to replace the 313-seat Supreme Soviet. The new parliament had a permanent thirty-five-member lower house and a seventy-member People's Assembly (upper house). In October 1998 yet another referendum was held to amend the constitution to allow Akayev to stand for a third term. The voters also approved a constitutional provision calling for an increase in the representation in the lower house to sixty-seven and a reduction in the membership of the upper house to thirty-eight. These changes took effect in 1999.

Parliament members are elected for a five-year term. The president is elected directly for a five-year term with tenure in office limited to two terms. He is head of state and commander-in-chief and holds extensive executive powers. The prime minister is appointed by the president, subject to confirmation by the parliament. Although the constitution calls for an independent judicial branch, Akayev is largely in control. The president nominates appointments to the highest judicial bodies, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the Higher Court of Arbitration. In 1996 President Akayev established the Security Council, which functions as an inner cabinet. Unlike the cabinet of ministers, this thirteen-member council is not accountable to the parliament and has become the main instrument of policy making in the republic.

The Kyrgyz political structure also allows for the establishment of a multiparty system. Since 1991 a number of political parties ranging from nationalist to social democratic and Communist have been registered by the justice ministry. However, the relative power of these parties has been significantly diminished as a result of constitutional amendments increasing the power of the executive branch. The Party of the Communists of Kyrgyzstan has been one of the largest opposition parties. The Ar-Namys (Dignity) Party, established by a presidential opponent, Felix Kulov, in 1999, has been kept under strict scrutiny and its leader jailed. Nationalist parties such as Asaba and Erkin have also been marginalized.

Kyrgyzstan became a member of the Central Asian Union, joining Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, in January 1994. Designed to create a single economic space, the union has accomplished very little in this respect. Several perennial disputes continue to hamper efforts to bring about meaningful regional economic reforms that would benefit each republic. Border disputes, outstanding water, gas, and electricity bills, and competition for regional leadership have driven a political wedge between the member countries. In addition to these issues, the growth of militant Muslim activities has become a source of friction between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In the summer of 1999 a group of Uzbek Muslim activists crossed into Kyrgyzstan from Tajikistan and held several Japanese hostages for more than three months.

Kyrgyzstan's structural dependence on Russia has forced the republic to be extremely flexible in its dealing with Moscow. Akayev has signed bilateral and multilateral security treaties with Russia. In 1996 Kyrgyzstan joined a customs union treaty with Kazakstan, Russia, and Belarus, which has yet to produce positive economic results. But Kyrgyzstan's admission to the World Trade Organization in 1999—which requires strict adherence to its membership provisions—has drawn criticism from Russia, whose trade regulations do not conform to international conventions.

Kyrgyzstan has also established ties with China and is a signatory to the Shanghai Five treaty, which unites China, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. These parties signed the treaty in April 1997 as a security guarantee to reduce tensions along the old Chinese-Soviet border. To appease China, Kyrgyzstan has curbed the activities of Muslim Uighur separatists on its territory, a policy that has led to many arrests and extraditions. Xinjiang Uygur, an autonomous region in northwestern China, is home to a relatively large Uighur population, and an estimated 40,000 Uighur Chinese live in Kyrgyzstan.

At the same time, Akayev has established close ties with the European countries whose assistance has been critical in facilitating economic transition. The United States, together with major international donor agencies, has provided economic and technical assistance since 1993. Akayev has embraced the Partnership for Peace program, and Kyrgyz troops have been participating in a Central Asian peacekeeping battalion, which has held joint exercises on an annual basis since 1996.

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