Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan performs in the low range with regard to three categories of the Global State of Democracy framework: Representation, Rights and Rule of Law; it performs in the mid-range in Participation. It is among the bottom 25 per cent of countries across several factors of democratic performance. Over the last five years, it has experienced notable drops across many factors of Representation, Rights and Rule of Law, reflecting President Sadyr Japarov’s efforts to centralize political power and undermine checks and balances. Kyrgyzstan is a lower middle-income country with a domestic economy based on agriculture and gold mining, and a quarter of the population lives under the national poverty line. Kyrgyzstan is one of the most remittance-dependent countries in the world, with money sent home – mostly from Russia – accounts for 30 per cent of GDP.
Kyrgyzstan is a multiethnic country (77 per cent Kyrgyz, 14 per cent Uzbek, and with small Dungan, Uyghur, and Russian minorities) with a young population, whose politics have historically been driven by regionally-based patronage and organized criminal groups. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it has seen six constitutional amendment processes that repeatedly renegotiated electoral, political, and power-sharing systems. In 2005, the Tulip Revolution, triggered by dissatisfaction with authoritarianism and corruption resulted in the resignation of the country’s president since independence, and in 2010 a revolution that grew out of clashes between minority Uzbek and majority Kyrgyz communities in the south resulted in a shift from a presidential to a parliamentary system.
Recently, economic interests have taken political precedence over regional identity, as was visible in the 2015 elections and violent governmental turnover in 2020. The nationalist-populist Japarov rose to power in late 2020 following widely-criticized elections. Japarov’s rise was fueled in part by dissatisfaction with the government’s COVID-19 response and subsequent economic crisis, general negative public attitudes towards the government, and anti-establishment sentiment among oligarchs. The new administration oversaw a 2021 referendum that transitioned Kyrgyzstan from a parliamentary to a fully presidential system, vesting more power in the president’s office and raising concerns of entrenching authoritarianism.
Kyrgyzstan has long been caught between the geopolitical interests of Russia (which has several military bases and is the major migrant destination country) and China (which is the main investor and creditor). Poor border demarcation, which complicates pressing regional questions of access to water and enclaves, is a persistent issue with neighboring Uzbekistan, and a disputed border with Tajikistan was the background for 2022 Kyrgyz-Tajik clashes that resulted in dozens of deaths and tens of thousands of internally displaced people.
Recent years have seen further worrying signs for Kyrgyzstan’s democratic trajectory, including arrests of civil activists, journalists, and politicians, and growing pressure on independent media. Gender-based violence has long been a systemic issue, and reports from human rights activists argue that even assessing its extent is difficult due to underreporting, a lack of support services, and ineffective legal protections. Public charges of corruption against top ministers and the head of the Central Electoral Committee frequently go unpunished, or the accused are let off with a fine. Historically, civil society in Kyrgyzstan has been able to withstand rising autocratization and decelerate democratic decline through active public protest and engagement. However, President Japarov’s weakening of parliament, pressure on courts, and attacks on freedom of expression might impact Checks on Government, Effective Parliament and Civil Liberties in the years to come.
Monthly Event Reports
February 2024 | ‘Foreign representatives’ bill moves forward amid outcry
Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved the second reading of a much-criticized ‘foreign representatives’ bill on the second reading on 22 February. The draft bill requires NGOs that receive foreign funding to register as “foreign representatives”, submit annual audits, and be subjected to other bureaucratic requirements that critics say will require most to cease operations. The bill has been criticized by domestic civil society, international human rights NGOs, OSCE officials, and the United States government for its negative impact on civil society in the country, who have noted its close relation to Russia’s infamous “foreign agent” legislation. The bill is expected to pass a third reading and be signed into law by President Sadyr Japarov, who has championed the bill and singled out American criticism as hypocritical, citing the dissimilar but similarly named American Foreign Agents Registration Act.
January 2024 | International outcry over media crackdown
International human rights groups called for Kyrgyzstan to drop criminal charges against six independent media organizations on 16 January following police raids on the homes of numerous journalists and newsrooms. The Interior Ministry claims it is investigating “war propaganda” and “calls to mass disorder” in the media outlets’ reporting, under various statutes which carry penalties of up to eight years in prison. It is unclear what reporting the charges relate to, although journalists from the 24.kg news agency’s questioning indicated some are related to their coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The raids come in the wake of legal pressure such as the attempted closures and blocking of websites of other independent and critical media outlets in recent months, and a draft media law that has been criticized by United Nations experts, domestic media, and rights organizations as overly restrictive.
December 2023 | President Japarov inaugurates new permanent Kurultai
President Sadyr Japarov oversaw the first sitting of the People’s Kurultai on 15 December, a new and permanent branch of government made up of 700 members appointed via a largely opaque process. The new body is parallel to the Kyrgyz parliament and can initiate legislation and make recommendations to the president about dismissing cabinet members. However, members reportedly dedicated most of the two-day meeting to speeches praising President Japarov. The Kurultai has been criticized by observers and activists as diluting the power of parliament and further cementing Japarov’s control over political decision-making, and was approved in a 2021 constitutional referendum criticized by independent observers as both vague and rife with election-day irregularities.
September 2023 | New powers subordinate courts to president
The Kyrgyz parliament passed a law on 28 September which will allow the president to overrule Constitutional Court decisions that are against the “moral values and social conscience of the people,” essentially giving President Sadry Japarov power over the judicial branch. Unusually, the law was introduced without prior discussion and quickly passed through multiple readings without significant parliamentary debate. Supporters argued the speed was necessary in to respond to a June Constitutional Court decision allowing Kyrgyz citizens over the age of 16 to adopt matronymics and instead defend what they claim are traditional Kyrgyz values.
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