Kyrgyzstan: Opposition Rises to Challenge President's "Criminal Politics"

Just about four years after the Central Asian state's Tulip Revolution, Kyrgyzstan finds itself having returned to "Go." Kyrgyz opposition parties opened the presidential election season with a peaceful protest rally in central Bishkek March 27. Leaders of the United People's Movement warned of creeping authoritarianism in the country, and issued demands for electoral reform and the resignation of the incumbent president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

"Bakiyev should not take part in the [forthcoming] elections," UPM coordinator Azimbek Beknazarov told the crowd, adding that free elections were impossible given what he described as the current atmosphere of "political persecution."

At least 1,500 turned out for four hours of speeches and music in Gorky Park, though authorities and opposition leaders disputed that figure. Smaller protests were held simultaneously around the country. The protests come one week after the Central Election Commission (CEC) set July 23 as the date for presidential elections. Observers say Bakiyev is trying to squeeze in an election before the opposition can mobilize and before a final decision is reached on the eviction of American troops at the Manas Air Base outside the capital. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Omurbek Tekebayev, leader of Ata Meken party and a leader of UPM, said the movement's chief demands included the opening of the Central Election Commission, law enforcement organs and state television to opposition members. Bakiyev is moving in an authoritarian direction, Tekebayev added. He pointed to the fact that the president has taken to installing close friends and relatives in positions of power. "What they are doing is killing political opponents and if we don't act today, tomorrow they [authorities] can come to our houses," he said. "I know why Bakiyev is going to [hold] early presidential elections: it's because he thinks the opposition is not fully united and doesn't have money now."

UPM speakers threatened to hold more rallies beginning April 20 if their demands were not met. For "safe and transparent elections" to take place, Beknazarov said international observers should be closely involved. That demand appears to be a direct challenge to government-sponsored draft legislation that would ban non-governmental organizations from taking any role in Kyrgyzstan's electoral process.

Roza Otunbaeva, deputy head of the Social Democratic Party and a former foreign minister told EurasiaNet that the UPM does not believe current conditions would allow the July elections to be fair. The coalition's demands, therefore, mark "a petition to government determining our tactic and strategy in this election campaign," she said.

The central question for the fragmented opposition remains how to unite before the elections and whether to field one candidate. The UPM has promised to put forward a single candidate, but no announcement was made at the March 27 event. Asked about a UPM candidate, Otunbaeva replied that the group would make the decision within a few weeks. "We can't postpone. We all understand we are wasting time," she said.

The problem seems to be dogging the opposition, analysts say, noting that during four hours and almost two-dozen speeches, no one on stage raised the issue of a single candidate in detail.

Nevertheless, MP Baktybek Beshimov, leader of the Social Democratic party in parliament, told EurasiaNet: "These presidential elections are vital. This is a choice between civilization and corruption, gangsterism."

UPM officials announced the demonstrations March 11, two days after opposition coordinator Alikbek Jekshenkulov was arrested in connection with a 2007 murder. The arrest also came one day before a planned meeting between the president and the opposition. Opposition leaders walked out of those talks, calling Jekshenkulov's arrest a politically motivated provocation.

Tensions have heightened further since the mysterious death of former presidential chief of staff, Medet Sadyrkulov March 13. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. "Sadyrkulov wanted to join the opposition, therefore he was killed and obviously that is a political murder, terror," Tekebayev said, calling the president's methods "criminal politics."

Authorities, in a precautionary move that many saw as designed to blunt opposition momentum, mandated that the demonstration take place in an easily containable and less prominent location than the capital's main square, Ala Too, where renovation works began just this week. "According to constitution every citizen has a right to gather for meeting, protests. This is a democratic country," General Prosecutor Elmurza Satybaldiev told EurasiaNet March 18. "But it must be peaceful and they must follow public order. In case of riots, they will be arrested."

Despite the restriction over the site, along with the relatively low turnout, organizers were upbeat on the results of the demonstration. "I think that the United People's Movement achieved its goal today. . . . We are united and the main demand all over the republic is, 'Elections without Bakiyev!'" Beknazarov said to applause towards the end of the event.

Afterwards, Otunbaeva, the former foreign minister, told EurasiaNet that the president's critics must make haste patiently. "This is only the first meeting. There are many of them to follow," she said.