Constitution Day – 5th May
One of the results of the Easter Revolution was that the Interim Government promised constitutional reform.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the declaration of Independence – Kyrgyzstan continued to operate under the auspices of the existing Soviet document. It was on May 5th, 1993, that a new constitution was finally adopted, thus formalizing the sovereignty of the new nation, and the day was declared as a holiday to commemorate the fact, which “marked an important development in the national identity and psyche”.
However, although it commemorates an important day in the history of the statehood of Kyrgyzstan, the holiday is normally a low-key affair, with few special events held to commemorate the holiday. The main “event” is that the President usually issues an address to the nation. This year, of course, there is no President.
For the record:
The Constitution laid down some basic principles which it was thought would help to define the nature of the young country …
- A “sovereign” state, – the Kyrgyz Republic had already declared its sovereignty, even before Independence.
- Unitary – a single state, united – which was to present problems given the “tribalism” and “regionalism” which is inherent in Kyrgyz society … and the ever present ethnic tensions in a society with over 80 nationalities represented,
- Democratic – for many years the country was seen as a Island of Democracy in Central Asia … although in the latter part of his term of Office, President Akaev was often seen as overbearing and autocratic … however, unlike many of the other regional leaders he did allow the opposition to operate. The concept of the Kyrgyz Nation has played an important role in the years since independence.
- a Republic – which is one of the reasons (apart from corruption) why the emergence of an unofficial de-facto “Royal Family” proved such an unpopular development and may have helped to contribute to the Tulip Revolution and the events of March 24th, 2005.
- Legal – the Kyrgyz place a very high regard on questions of legalities … following the Tulip Revolution there were many debates about how the interim government should proceed – which parliament was legitimate, and so forth … The constitution enshrined the principle of the supremacy of the “rule of law”
- Secular – although the majority of the Kyrgyz are nominally Muslim and religion sometimes emerges as an issue, there were a number of other religions represented in the country, (most notably Russian Orthodox – and later the emergence of other evangelical Christian churches also emerged). Although Religious political parties were banned, discrimination on grounds of religion was prohibited.
Amongst the principles enshrined in the formal document were the supremacy of the rule of law, guarantees of human rights and freedoms (e.g. outlawing discrimination on religious, racial or ethnic grounds) and the distribution of powers between the various organs of the state – with the President as the Head of State – whose powers were to be balanced and held in check by the legislature and the judiciary.
All members of the population over the age of 18 were granted a vote… a residence requirement of five years was imposed on candidates for the Jogorku Kenesh, (the Kyrgyz Parliament).
Since 1993, however, there have been several significant amendments to the constitution – and the current constitution is the eight version. In 2006, alone, there were two attempts to introduce new versions – which were later struck down by the Constitutional Court. Constitutional Reform will result in a ninth version of the document … in seventeen years.
Some of the members of the Interim Government made statements about what they think should be in the new version, stating a preference for a Parliamentary system of government as opposed to the Executive Presidency that has developed in the country since Independence. There was a general feeling that the existing constitution, the eighth in seventeen years, was too heavily weighted in favour of the personage and office of the President, and that it was necessary to redistribute at least some of his powers in checks and balances … and so a working group was established to draft the necessary amendments.
In the meantime, the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land which dealt primarily with constitutional law and interpretation of the constitution, was disbanded. The court had the authority to rule on whether or not laws that were challenged were, in fact, unconstitutional, (i.e. whether or not they conflicted with constitutionally established rights and freedoms.) The decisions of Kyrgyzstan’s constitutional court have not been without controversy, such as the decision that President Akaev’s first term as President of the Khirghiz SSR and under a different constitution did not disqualify him from standing in the 2000 presidential election despite the fact that the constitution limited a President to holding two terms of office. Indeed it was considered that the court had merely been an instrument used by the President to “get his own way” and give a veneer of legality and respectability to measure which were not exactly popular.
A Referendum will be held in the summer to approve the new version of the constitution – the ninth version in seventeen years. Although, as I understand it, the bulk of the document will be based on the existing version, with only certain specific sections being amended or completely rewritten and replaced. The referendum will, by all accounts, be a “take it or leave it”, “all or nothing” decision. “Yes” or “No”. I don’t suppose there will any prizes for predicting the eventual outcome. We’ll see … I may yet be surprised.
Bishkek