Azerbaijan, Baku, June 30 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
Despite the fact that the majority of the population in Kyrgyzstan supported a draft of the new constitution of the republic, the position of the interim government is still unstable, experts said.
On Sunday a referendum on a new constitution was held in Kyrgyzstan. According to official figures, nearly 91 percent of voters supported the draft of this document.
A draft of the new constitution, proposed by the interim government, which came to power after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in April, significantly weakens the presidential branch, turning Kyrgyzstan into a parliamentary republic, but also nominates Rosa Otunbayeva for the presidency of the transitional period.
However, the position of interim government in Kyrgyzstan remains unsteady, experts said.
"The interim government in Bishkek is weak. The way in which it took power, and the existing weakness of the Kyrgyz state, creates a situation in which Roza Otunbayeva's administration is in office, but not in power - or at least not entirely," U.S expert on Central Asia, Dex Torricke-Barton, told Trend via e-mail.
The inability of the government to consolidate its power in the south, and to prevent political tensions turning into serious ethnic violence, is going to erode popular support for the regime even further, he said.
According to various sources, as a result of ethnic clashes, which began in the city of Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan on the night of June 11, from 200 to 2,000 people were killed. At the same time about 400,000 people fled their homes to seek for refuge.
The interim government is more popular in Bishkek and much less so in the South and among the people that benefited from the former government, European expert on Central Asia, Institute for Security and Development Policy director Niklas Swanström said.
"It is not the case that the former government was hated by all or that this government is loved by all. There might be a majority in support of the new interim government, or maybe more correctly opposition to the other government," Swanström told Trend via e-mail.
The population in the regions needs assurance that the government can ensure present and future long term security, European expert on Central Asia Asher CJ Pirt said.
"In this case security must be defined not just as security from future violence but also socio-economic security. Unless it starts finding solutions to the country's internal problems the government might find itself replaced by another government in the next twelve months," he said.
But without serious outside help, it is hard to see a way in which the situation can easily turn around. Kyrgyzstan's political crisis stems from socio-economic problems - low living standards, state corruption, weak rule of law. The international community needs to help address each of these issues in a comprehensive way, if we want to see a sustainable peace in the region, Dex Torricke-Barton said.