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Eurasia
April 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
bayev, who calls Jeenbekov an “old friend”, said during the March 31 event that it was necessary to say “harsh words” about the new president in order to help him rule, the latter possibly took the criticisms personally.
(Dys)functional democracy
Kyrgyzstan held a referendum in December 2016 under Atambayev that weakened the presidency in favour of the office of the prime minister.
The change was seen as an effective failsafe for the SDPK in case the party’s presidential candi- date lost the October 2016 election, but the need for this lever did not materialise, since Jeenbekov won. Yet Atambayev apparently did not consider the possibility of losing his hold over his proxies when his own candidate turned against him.
The referendum was put in place to maintain SDPK’s control over the country, by giving it the power to fire and appoint prime ministers thanks to its parliamentary majority.
Tajiks going back for more after 2017’s successful bond debut
Kanat Shaku in Almaty
Central Asia’s poorest nation, Tajikistan, is report- edly planning to issue more notes following its suc- cessful international bond debut in 2017, Radio Ozo- di reported on April 23, citing an unnamed official in the Tajik Finance Ministry. Merrill Lynch, the wealth management division of Bank of America, appar- ently intends to buy a large chunk of the bonds.
The lawmakers, including those of the SDPK, appear to have largely aligned with Jeenbekov in his effort to cleanse the government of Atambayev loyalists, diminishing Atambayev’s real level of influence.
Kyrgyzstan is surrounded by autocratic neigh- bours and earned its democratic sobriquet after the Tulip Revolution in 2005 and the subsequent toppling of Bakiyev’s regime in April 2010.
Atambayev, who led the country from late 2011 until last November, is often credited as the lead- ing figure of the Central Asian nation’s two con- secutive revolutions. He has presented himself as a champion of democracy, but his popularity has waned over the years against the backdrop of the 2016 referendum and his commitment to keeping the SDPK in power.
Now it looks like Atambayev has shot himself in the foot as the democratic institutions he himself used against the SDPK’s opposition have slipped through his fingers.
The plan is to construct Rogun dam in southwestern Tajikistan, on the Vakhsh River upstream from the Nurek Dam. Hydropower outages at Nurek plunge Tajiks into darkness.
Tajikistan raised $500mn from its inaugural Eurobond, which priced at 7.125% for a 10-year term in September. The proceeds from the bond are to go into the Rogun hydropower dam con- struction. Rogun is to be a 3,600MW hydropower project, complete with the world's tallest dam.