A draft of a new Constitution was presented in Kyrgyzstan. The text of the country's Basic Law, finalised by the Constitutional Council, was published on February 9 on the parliament's website. The press service of the Parliament clarified that after discussing the draft Constitution initiated by the deputies of the Parliament and posted on November 17, 2020 on the official website of the parliament for public discussion, the Constitutional meeting submitted it again for consideration to the initiators. All Kyrgyz citizens can participate in the discussion of the main law of the country.
The new Basic Law provides for a presidential form of government in the country, for which a majority of the electorate voted in a referendum in January. At the same time, Kyrgyzstan remains a democratic, secular republic, the status of the official language is assigned to the Russian language.
The main changes in the proposed edition concerned the powers of the head of state. The constitution provides for their significant expansion. It is worth noting that under the current Constitution, the president will work for 6 years and will be able to be elected for another five on a new basis. The maximum age threshold for being elected head of state has been removed.
The draft Basic Law states, the President is the head of state and at the same time heads the executive branch, is elected for 5 years and no more than two terms. He also determines the main directions of the domestic and foreign policy of the state, earlier the government was responsible for foreign policy, determines the structure and composition of the Cabinet of Ministers, forms its own administration, forms and heads the Security Council, appoints and dismisses the Secretary of State.
The post of prime minister is abolished, he is actually the president himself, but the post of chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers will appear, he becomes the head of the presidential administration. The head of state can dismiss the chairman of the cabinet and other officials of the executive branch.
The President can call a referendum on his own initiative, a referendum is also called on the initiative of 300 thousand voters or a majority of deputies. The President has the right to convene extraordinary sessions of the Parliament, at the same time indicate issues for consideration, initiate bills. The head of state will inform about his activities to the deputies once a year.
The President can sign bills or reject them, dismiss and appoint judges, the chairman of the Accounting Chamber, the Prosecutor General with the consent of the Parliament, ambassadors. He nominates candidates for the positions of the heads of the National Bank and the CEC.
The president will be able to resign of his own free will or upon his removal from office for violation of laws and illegal interference in the activities of the Parliament and courts at the conclusion of a special parliamentary commission, the General Prosecutor's Office and the Constitutional Court. The impeachment must be supported by at least 60 out of 90 deputies.
But the powers and functions of the parliament, on the contrary, will be curtailed. There will be fewer deputies, 90 instead of 120, while the document does not indicate by what system they will be elected. The age limit is increasing from 21 to 25 years old, the deputy will also be obliged to terminate his powers if he was absent from the Parliament meetings during one session of 10 working days without a valid reason. The parliament will hear the annual information from the president and the annual report of the Cabinet of Ministers on the execution of the national budget.
The Parliament will also elect members of the CEC. Half on the proposal of the president, half on its own initiative. Today parliament elects a third of the CEC members on the proposal of the parliamentary majority, a third from the parliamentary opposition and a third from the president.
As for the government, it is proposed to name the central executive body the Cabinet of Ministers. Its chairman, as mentioned earlier, will be the head of the presidential administration. The president bears personal responsibility for the results of the activities of the cabinet and the executive branch, but if the Parliament recognises the report on the execution of the national budget as unsatisfactory, the head of state may consider the issue of the responsibility of cabinet members. The Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers is responsible to the President for the activities of the Cabinet. The head of state has the right to dismiss the entire composition or individual members of the cabinet. The resignation of the chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers does not entail the resignation of the entire body of executive power.
The changes will also affect the judiciary. It is proposed to rename the Constitutional Chamber into the Constitutional Court and make it a separate body, and the Council for the Selection of Judges into the Council for Justice Affairs. This body will be formed from a number of judges, one third of whom will be representatives of the President, the Parliament, the People's Kurultai and the legal community. The requirements for judges of the Supreme Court are also becoming more stringent: they must have at least 15 years of experience in the legal profession, including working as a judge for at least five years.
Other state bodies are proposed to be called state authorities of Kyrgyzstan with a special status. This category includes the General Prosecutor's Office, the National Bank, the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda, the Accounts Chamber and the Ombudsman Institute.
The wording of the new Constitution was analysed by the ex-prime minister, former deputy, politician and lawyer Felix Kulov. The expert notes many shortcomings and norms that can lead to serious problems.
“I would like to make a reservation right away that in any analysis of legal norms there cannot and should not arise any associations with specific individuals and surnames. At our referendum, voters supported the presidential form of government by a majority vote. But there is a big difference between the terms master and dictator.
Unfortunately, the version developed by the Constitutional Council does not provide any guarantees against sliding towards a dictatorial system of government. Since this is a purely legal matter, it is important to have a balanced system of checks and balances. However, there is no such system in the draft Constitution under consideration. Article 89 of the draft states that the President, who is the head of state and at the same time the head of the executive branch of government, bears personal responsibility for the results of the activities of not only the Cabinet of Ministers, but also the entire executive branch.
Nowhere is it specified how he will bear this very personal responsibility. In fact and legally, the chairman of the Cabinet, who is appointed and dismissed by the President, will be responsible for the activities of the Cabinet, F. Kulov notes. Every year, not the president, who is the head of the executive branch, but the chairman of the cabinet must report to the parliament for the activities of this very power, and if something goes wrong, the president can quickly remove him.
For some reason, a character from the novel The Golden Calf Zits Chairman Pound comes to mind, who was a nominal leader, whose main duty was only to answer before the law and the court for the work of the office he headed and sit in prison under different ruling regimes instead of the real owners.
In the politician's opinion, combining two top positions is also an extremely unfortunate decision. “The chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers in the role of the head of the administration, in addition to his direct powers directly related to the activities of the executive authorities, will also be obliged to prepare for the president issues related to defence and national security, foreign policy, interstate relations, etc."
Judges should also not depend on the executive branch, F. Kulov is sure. The ex-prime minister is also worried that the new Constitution does not even have a hint of opposition. “This is not good for our international image, and therefore it is desirable to correct this omission. Summing up, we can make a preliminary conclusion that the draft of the Basic Law is still damp and requires revision, elimination of roughness, clarification of some formulations,” he said.
The statesman, politician Emil Kaptagaev also criticised the new version of the Basic Law. “You cannot write the Constitution according to the principle where I want, I will turn it there. Once we have decided that we will have a head of government, it is necessary that he remain the head of government, and not turn into some completely incomprehensible hybrid. Why did we declare that it is necessary to pass to the presidential rule? Because there was an argument that one person should take responsibility. But the declared project does not even smell like responsibility. How can this be understood? The draft says that the president is in charge of the executive branch, but he is not responsible for its work, the results of its work,” he complained.
The draft of the new Constitution will be considered by the parliament on February 17, public discussion will last until March 9. The referendum itself on the adoption of the Basic Law of the country is scheduled for April 11, together with the election of deputies of local councils.
Reported by Asiais (Russia).
