On September 28th a round table titled “Kyrgyzstan ahead of the parliamentary elections: economy, politics, integration” took place in Bishkek on the platform of IA 24.kg. The Executive Director of the Political Scientific Center North-South, Yulia Yakusheva, presented an analytical report which was developed by Russian and Kyrgyz experts. It was devoted to the evaluation of the main tendencies in development of party and political processes in the republic.
According to authors of the report, the parliamentary elections of 2015 will be an important step on the way of further development of democratic institutions of Kyrgyzstan. A significant role in stabilization of the political sphere in the KR was played by the personal factor. President Almazbek Atambayev managed to maintain the balance of interests between the main political actors. All of this formed favorable conditions for providing a new election campaign in a relatively calm and stable situation.
The report states that in the last five years, internal elite conflicts have reduced, and the level of trust in the country’s authorities increased. Another achievement by Atambayev’s team is that all the political forces of Kyrgyzstan agreed with the fixed game rules, starting from the mechanisms of organization of the election process, which became more transparent and democratic, and ending with more civilized competition.
One of the authors of the report, the Director of the Kyrgyzstan Center of Prospective Studies, Sergey Masulov, points out that “politically, there is the first condition for stability in the country.” Kyrgyzstan has finally formed an attitude toward democracy as a working procedure. Therefore, tendencies for the formation of a working party system have been formed in the last five years, the expert stressed.
During a presentation of the report, the factor of Kyrgyzstan’s Eurasian choice was considered in the context of development of political processes in the republic. According to sociological data by a Kyrgyzstan expert, Jumakadyr Akeneyev, after Kyrgyzstan joined the EAEU the level of support for Eurasian integration reached 84% among the population of the republic. An important signal in the issue was a more active position by labor migrants, most of whom work on the territory of the Russian Federation, and members of their families. Now this category of citizens understands clearly the logic of the political and economic reforms of the authorities and sees an effective mechanism of fulfillent of their interests in the election process.
There is a demand for modernization of the economy and the social sphere of Kyrgyzstan in society through participation of the country in the EAEU. Therefore, the majority of parties, even those which used to follow the pro-Western course, are now declaring their pro-Eurasian and pro-Russian positions.
The current authorities are providing the Eurasian integration course in practice. The high level of support for Atambayev among the country’s population is connected with his internal political course and with the integration of Kyrgyzstan into the EAEU. Thus, it is automatically converted into high ratings of the presidential party. The Eurasian course of the Kyrgyzstan authorities may provide victory for the SDPK in the elections.
All the participants in the round table agreed that the role of President Atambayev is big in the political and party sphere. According to the political scientist Igor Shevarev, “the institution of the presidency is the only really effective institution in Kyrgyzstan,” therefore, it is important to pay great attention to strengthening the government’s work in the country in general. Moreover, economic reforms are necessary; and a program by the pro-presidential party of the SDPK reflects such reforms in full. According to the expert, the former economic strategy, which is connected with fulfillment of the opportunities of Eurasian integration, will be based on this concept.
The political scientist Marat Kazakbayev agrees with the idea that the political system of Kyrgyzstan is shifting to the legal sphere; the principles of 'leaderism’ are changed by civilized formats of functioning of political institutions. That is why the presidential course works in the political, economic, and integration spheres.
