Page 62 - bne_May 2021_20210501

62 I Eurasia bne May 2021
Man of the moment, Sadyr Japarov.
Kyrgyzstan: Referendum hands Japarov the super-presidency he craved
Ayzirek Imanaliyeva for Eurasianet
Voters in Kyrgyzstan have approved a new constitution that will
give sweeping new powers to
the president, ending a decade-long experiment with a mixed system that never quite lived up to expectations.
Turnout for the April 11 referendum, which also saw voters across the country cast ballots for local government representatives, was low, however, which may in theory weaken the legitimacy of the exercise.
According to preliminary figures released late in the evening, 36.7% of eligible voters took part in the referendum, thereby surpassing the required 30% threshold. Out of that total, 79% voted in favour of the presidential constitution.
www.bne.eu
“This constitution was devised by
us, together with community elders, scholars and legal experts,” President Sadyr Japarov said in remarks on
the day of the vote. “Everything was discussed openly with the people. [...] If the people support this, we will begin living tomorrow under the rules of the new constitution.”
Contrary to what Japarov has claimed, though, grassroots discussion of the constitution was relatively muted.
As a result, even those who ostensibly supported it have struggled to articulate quite what ideas the revised basic law advanced.
All the same, Klara Erkinbayeva,
a 65-year-old voter in Bishkek, told Eurasianet that she was optimistic about the prospects for presidential rule.
“I think it is the right way to go. Scholars, experts and historians all worked together to create the
“Critics of Japarov, who came to power in October in the wake of discredited parliamentary elections, accuse him of ushering in a return to authoritarianism”