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Kyrgyzstan still faces threat of political instability

Kyrgyzstan Materials 15 April 2016 16:04 (UTC +04:00)
Kyrgyz governments do not seem to be as stable as their counterparts in the neighbor states in the Central Asia and they always face a threat of political instability, Michael Laubsch, executive Director of Eurasian Transition Group, a leading European non-profit organization, believes.
Kyrgyzstan still faces threat of political instability

Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 15

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Kyrgyz governments do not seem to be as stable as their counterparts in the neighbor states in the Central Asia and they always face a threat of political instability, Michael Laubsch, executive Director of Eurasian Transition Group, a leading European non-profit organization, believes.

"This has, in my view, something to do with the political system there. You don't have strong presidential system there, with no "strong leader" like Nursultan Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan or Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan, the political system there is more or less a parliamentary democracy," Laubsch told Trend by email.

At the same time, the expert noted that there are several interest groups represented in the government that see the political system as a guarantee for their own interests and corruption is a big issue.

"As you don't have a presidential system with a person on top, who has the last word and can conduct and lead those "fights" within the political interest groups, those struggles more or less end always in a new government," Laubsch said.

He noted that this situation happened this week when the old prime minister and his cabinet were accused of corruption.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariev resigned earlier this week after the scandal erupted when the inspection uncovered violations in the procurement of the public tender won by a Chinese roads and bridges corporation. His resignation followed by consequent early resignation of the Government in line with the country's laws. Deputy head of Kyrgyz presidential apparatus Sooronbay Zheenbekov was elected to the post of the new prime minister.

It is not the first time when the government resigns early in Kyrgyzstan.

"The system in Kyrgyzstan is still very fragile and having in mind the social situation there for its people, the more or less increasing economic crisis due to the Eurasian Economic Union, protests and a new "uprising" against the political system is always likely," Laubsch said.

Edited by SI

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova

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