Voters in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday April 11 approved by a large majority a constitutional reform granting greater powers to the president and allowing the current head of state, Sadyr Japarov, to run for a second term, according to preliminary results of a referendum.
Sunday, after the counting of more than 75% of the ballots, the constitutional reform was about to be approved with nearly 80% of the votes in its favor. Turnout was low, but it broke the 30% mark required for the referendum to be approved, as Deputy Prime Minister Ulugbek Karmyshakov announced to the press. “The referendum is validated”, did he declare.
The political system on which the Kyrgyz had to vote would bring Kyrgyzstan, the most pluralist but also the most unstable of the countries in the region, to its neighbors with authoritarian regimes or to Russia.
A “khan-stitution”
The constitutional reform notably abolished the president’s single six-year term of office, introduced in 2010 after two successive heads of state were chased into the streets against a backdrop of patronage and authoritarianism. Instead, the president will be able to serve two five-year terms and the powers of parliament will be reduced, with the number of deputies dropping from 120 to 90. Critics of the proposed new constitution have mocked it as “Khan-stitution”.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe have both deplored the lack of “Meaningful and inclusive public consultations and debate in Parliament” about the text. The two institutions also say they are worried “The too important role and prerogatives of the president” that he foresees.
Mr. Japarov, a 52-year-old populist who rose to power in October thanks to a violent protest movement and elected president of the country in January, has since worked to oust his political rivals. Two of his opponents in the presidential election, as well as a former prime minister, were arrested in the weeks following the vote.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the end of February, on the occasion of Sadyr Japarov’s visit to Moscow, that he hoped that constitutional reform would strengthen stability and bilateral relations between Moscow and Bishkek.