Kyrgyz government gets an "F"

The head of the presidential staff Mukhammedkaliy Abylgaziyev was appointed new prime minister of Kyrgyzstan. His candidacy was approved by the coalition of the parliamentary majority. On Thursday, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament today passed a vote of no-confidence to the Cabinet led by Sapar Isakov, and President Sooronbay Zheenbekov signed a decree on his resignation. On April 20, Abylgaziyev's candidacy will be approved at an extraordinary meeting of the Jogorku Kenesh (Kyrgyz parliament).

Things developed swiftly in Kyrgyzstan yesterday. At first, the parliament of the republic passed a vote of no confidence to the government led by Prime Minister Sapar Isakov. This motion was supported by 101 lawmakers, five voted against. They acknowledged the Cabinet's 2017 annual report unsatisfactory. The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) did not participate in the discussion of the report, but supported Isakov's resignation by a majority of votes. It was a political decision. As the head of the majority coalition in the Jogorku Kenesh, deputy of the SDPK faction Isa OmurkulovI told journalists, the resignation of the government was caused by the confrontation between the team of the new president Sooronbai Zheenbekov and the team of the previous head of the republic Almazbek Atambayev.

"Standing between the government and the president, we, the parliament, politicians, must express our principled position. Otherwise people will not understand us. There should not be any conjuncture, personal interests. Such a situation should not arise in the future," Omurkulov said. One of the reasons that influenced the formation of his position, according to Omurkulov, was the recent history, when President Zheenbekov fired an official, and Prime Minister Isakov immediately appointed him to a new, higher position.

The government, led by 40-year-old Prime Minister Sapar Isakov, was formed in late August 2017. He was the 28th head of the government during 26 years of Kyrgyzstan's independence. And his office was the youngest in the history of the republic. The residents of Kyrgyzstan mostly remember Sapar Isakov is most for his termination of the agreement with Rusgidro on the construction of the Kambarata hydroelectric power stations and the transfer of this project to a dubious Czech company Liglass Traiding CZ, which has never before engaged in the construction of a hydroelectric station. It caused great stir not only in Kyrgyzstan, but also in the Czech Republic, and the project was called the "scam of the century."

Sapar Isakov also became the worst prime minister of the republic. In the case of a vote of no confidence, he loses the status of "ex". Doctor of Juridical Sciences Kanatbek Aziz has explained this to Kyrgyzstan's 24.kg. The 2012 Constitutional Law "On the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic" says that a prime minister dismissed on grounds related to a violation of the Constitution and laws or in connection with a vote of no confidence can not be called "ex-head of government".

There were no doubts that head of the presidential staff Mukhammedkaliy Abylgaziyev will be appointed new prime minister of Kyrgyzstan. "If you follow the appointments of the prime ministers of recent years, you can see the following pattern: seven out of ten before the appointment to the post of first minister worked as heads of the presidential administration," the Kyrgyz politician and ex-parliamentarian Ravshan Jeenbekov said, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza.

Previous president Almazbek Atambayev, when nominating Sooronbai Zheenbekov for the presidential election on October 15, 2017, conceived the implementation of the scenario of succession. He expected to return to politics as the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), get a deputy mandate and lead the parliamentary majority. He put his own appointees into key positions in the Cabinet, the power structures, the Prosecutor's Office. But according to the expert on Central Asia and the Middle East Alexander Knyazev, he did not take some important factors into account. "The society and the main external partners is tired of Atambayev and his closest partners. In addition, Zheenbekov is not a person that could be managed, and this fact has manifested itself rather quickly, when almost immediately after the inauguration he has undertaken to clean the political space from Atambayev's proteges: the resignation of Farid Niyazov, the head of the apparatus, the powerful pressure on the leadership of the security forces, and as a result, Prime Minister Sapar Isakov's resignation together with the cabinet, the weakening of the mayor of Bishkek and a number of people close to the ex-president," Knyazev noted.

Finally, Atambayev's well-known imbalance was the end of him. At the congress of the SDPK, which took place in late March, Atambayev spoke sharply about a new president, Zheenbekov. This scandalous return of Atambayev to politics put an end to his political life, led to the split of his party - SDPK, and, finally, to the government's resignation.

"Bishkek is discussing the possibility of canceling presidential immunity from criminal prosecutions. If this law is adopted, then the future of Almazbek Atambayev is not cloudy," Ravshan Jeenbekov believes. According to him, despite the fact that today Sooronbai Zheenbekov's rating has increased and he got a carte blanche to carry out reforms, special changes are not expected. "Until now, Zheenbekov has not taken any decisive steps to reform the country. He will make some cosmetic changes. Zhehanbekov will have to reckon with the northern politicians. (He is a southerner himself - VK) Regionalism has already been introduced by Atambaev as an instrument of political struggle. Thjere will be no serious, important reforms," Jeenbekov noted.

Answering the question of Vestnik Kavkaza of whether Atambaev will be able take his supporters to the streets in a sign of disagreement with the new head of state's current policy, Jeenbekov said that Atambayev does not have such an opportunity now. "He has no influence on society. His authority may increase in a few months, after the society realizes that Zheenbekov is like any other president, including Atambayev. If there are no economic and political reforms, Atambayev, being a resource politician, can use it. He still has resources and he can try to return to politics. But not now, after a while," Ravshan Jeenbekov believes.