From: EurasiaDigest (digest@eurasianet.org)
Date: Fri Jan 28 2005 - 11:20:25 EST
KAZAKH OPPOSITION PROPOSES DRAFT CONSTITUTION
Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, chairman of the Coordinating Council of Democratic Forces of Kazakhstan, presented the council's new draft constitution for Kazakhstan at a news conference in Almaty on 26 January, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. Tuyakbai said that a new constitution is necessary because Kazakhstan has failed to hold free and fair presidential or parliamentary elections since gaining independence, failed to distribute the benefits of a thriving oil industry to the bulk of the population, and failed to fight corruption, "Navigator" reported. The current constitution "has allowed presidential authority to completely dominate all other state institutions," Tuyakbai said. He stressed that the draft constitution contains checks and balances to prevent the usurpation of power, affirms that natural resources belong to the people and should benefit them directly, and does not allow "the monopoly of any single political party and the creation by the state of special conditions for certain parties." The Russian text
of the draft constitution can be found at http://www.navi.kz/articles/7973. DK
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