From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Mon Nov 08 2004 - 09:20:36 EST
Kazakh adviser says president to keep oligarchs out of politics
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will never tolerate oligarchs or
financial groups who try to meddle in politics, the presidential adviser
Yermukhamet Yertysbayev has suggested.
"It will never happen that an oligarch, a banker or the head of a giant
holding company will define the country's policy. According to the
constitution, the president defines foreign and domestic policy in our
country. It is not oligarchs or bankers who are a source of power in our
country but the people who elect a president and parliament,"
Yertysbayev said, asked about the president's recent warning to
oligarchs to stay out of politics.
"Our president, Nursultan Abish-uly, is a person of great soul. However,
his patience has a limit. Should any oligarchic group sponsor our
opponents who in turn want to destabilize the situation, then strict
measures will be taken in response," he said.
Yertysbayev was speaking on the Khabar TV channel's "Zheti Kun" weekly
programme broadcast on 7 November.
He said that this problem also had an economic component because
oligarchic groups had numerous subsidiaries which were operating in
non-core spheres. He said that this was the main reason for the slow
development of small and medium-sized businesses. "Oligarchs hate
competition and they represent the main obstacle in developing small and
medium-medium businesses, but it is very important to the president to
significantly expand the sociopolitical basis of his voters among small
and medium-sized businesses so that hundreds of thousands of people
provide real support to the head of state in the next president
election," Yertysbayev said.
The adviser told Khabar that the resignation of the Speaker of the
Kazakh parliament's lower chamber, the Majlis, Zharmakhan Tuyakbay, had
caused certain discomfort in his Otan party ranks, so the president had
convened the new parliament on 3 November.
Zharmakhan Tuyakbay was a deputy chairman of the pro-presidential Otan
party and was elected to the new Majlis as No 1 candidate on the party
list. Tuyakbay said he would give up his deputy mandate in the new
Majlis and leave the Otan party over what he described in a newspaper
article as unlawful actions by representatives of the executive bodies
during the parliamentary election, held on 19 September.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev convened the new parliament on 3
November, although the old Majlis was expected to be working until 1
December.
"The juridical substantiation of this move does not cause doubts. That
is why I do not agree with describing this an early end to the powers of
Majlis deputies," Yertysbayev said. "Parliament was dissolved in
December 1993 and March 1995. The previous Majlis was elected on 10
October 1999 and ended its powers in early November 2004," he noted.
The adviser said that Tuyakbay's statement had somehow had an impact on
the president's decision.
"If I say that Tuyakbay has absolutely nothing to do with it - no-one
will believe me. He had an impact to a certain degree," Yertysbayev
said. He recalled that there had been a precedent in the country when a
deputy elected on party list had to vacate his parliamentary seat after
he left his party.
"I believe a discomfort has emerged between the Speaker and the Otan
majority in the Majlis and Otan's voters did not understand and did not
agree with this. In addition, Tuyakbay was not an ordinary member of the
party but deputy chairman of the party," he said. "In general, the head
of state cut the Gordian knot of misunderstanding and convened the new
Majlis."
"Another crucial circumstance, I believe, is that the president wanted
to tell the new parliament about his new impressive and large-scale
social and political initiatives," Yertysbayev noted.
Asked about the opposition Ak Zhol party's initiative to hold a
nationwide referendum on several issues, Yertysbayev said that in line
with the constitutional law on referendums, referendums could held on
the issue of adopting a constitution and other important issues.
Commenting on the first question - "Do you deem it necessary to suspend
the sale of agricultural land until elections of the heads of
administrations of settlements and districts are introduced?" - among
the six issues proposed by Ak Zhol for a referendum, Yertysbayev said
that that was a strange way to put the question because one could be
against the sale of farmland and for appointing the heads of
administrations or vice versa.
He said that questions in a referendum should be clear-cut and there
should not be too many of them so that clear answers are received.
On the second question "Do you deem it necessary to introduce direct
elections of the heads of administrations of settlements and districts
in 2005?" proposed for the referendum, the adviser said that the
president had already made public a specific programme for political
reforms, including on electing the heads, at the Otan congress on 15
June 2004 and set specific dates for implementing these reforms.
On the third question "Do you deem it necessary to introduce a system of
direct and equal distribution of state revenues from the sale of natural
resources among all Kazakh citizens?", he said that such questions had
never been asked in referendums anywhere. "Only the Communists were
trying to ensure equal distribution and it was everyone's equality in
poverty," Yertysbayev said.
He said that it was high time Ak Zhol stopped speculating on this topic
because all revenues were going to the state treasury to fund
Kazakhstan's social policy. He recalled that under the law on
referendums one could not put budget and tax issues to referendum.
The fifth question "Do you deem it necessary to introduce a provision in
the law "On elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan" which will allow 20
per cent of voters to initiate the recalling of any elected official?"
was a "culmination of absurdity and ignorance in politics", Yertysbayev
said.
He said the reason for Ak Zhol specifying 20 per cent of voters was
because "this was the opposition's electoral ceiling in our country". He
noted that the opposition parties had won about 20 per cent of votes in
the latest parliamentary election.
On the sixth question "Do you deem it necessary to find the elections to
the Majlis of parliament unlawful (invalid) and initiate new elections?"
proposed for the referendum, the adviser said under the law issues
related to justice could not be put to a referendum because they could
be solved by the Supreme Court.
Asked to comment on Ak Zhol candidate Alikhan Baymenov refusing the only
parliamentary seat held by the opposition, Yertysbayev said: "Tuyakbay
refused the strongest and most popular party - Otan; Baymenov refused
the main political rostrum in the country - parliament. Both are
unforgivable mistakes."
"Tuyakbay made a mistake. He could have again become Speaker and only
then as Speaker should he have demanded a parliamentary commission to
investigate all violations in the election. Baymenov had a great chance
to prove to everyone that `I am the only fighter on the battlefield'. He
would have represented 572,000 Kazakhs in parliament and the Otan
majority would have taken into account his opinion," the presidential
adviser said. "However, he refused it and put an end to his future
political career."
(Duration of the interview: 25'. No further processing)
Source: Khabar Television, Almaty, in Russian 1500 gmt 7 Nov 04
BBC Mon CAU 071104 jl/nb
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