Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Environment

Economy

Politics

Kazakhstan's Bloody January 2022
Kyrgyzstan 2020 unrest

Security

Society

American diplomats in Central Asia
Arts and Culture
Coronavirus
Student spotlight
X

Visual Stories

Podcast
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

EurasiaChat
Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.
Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan: President signs new constitution into law

More authority will be wielded, in principle, by a national people's congress.

May 5, 2021
Japarov addressing an audience at the Ala-Archa residence. (Photo: Presidential administration) Japarov addressing an audience at the Ala-Archa residence. (Photo: Presidential administration)

Kyrgyzstan’s president on May 5 signed a new constitution into law, thereby gaining expansive new powers for himself and diluting the authority of parliament.

Sadyr Japarov put his signature to the document in a ceremony at the Ala-Archa presidential residence in front of an audience including members of the legislature, representatives of the judiciary, officials from the cabinet and other public figures.

The new-look constitution was approved by almost 80 percent of voters at a referendum in April, although the turnout was only a modest 39 percent.

Under the new dispensation, the parliament will shrink, going from 120 members to 90. Legislators will wield reduced decision-making powers. The head of state is to become head of the executive and assume the authority to appoint almost all judges and heads of law enforcement agencies. Another section envisions the creation of something called the People’s Kurultai, a national-level analogue of a traditional if often erratic form of local power-brokering.

Japarov addressed the question of the People’s Kurultai during the signing ceremony.

“Every nation builds its life on the basis of its own values. From time immemorial, our people have had two values​: freedom and justice,” he said. “It is necessary to bring in the concept of natural management, the administration of affairs in a manner befitting the natural characteristics of the Kyrgyz ethnos.”

That principle means consulting with the positions and interests of the people before adopting any decision, Japarov said.

 

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Related

Hail to the victors! Turkmen football team secures a cup
Tajik-Taliban relations slowly warm, but both sides hedge their bets
Restrictions, discrimination do not significantly stem Tajik migration flow to Russia

Popular

Hail to the victors! Turkmen football team secures a cup
Tajik-Taliban relations slowly warm, but both sides hedge their bets
Alexander Thompson
Armenia: Pashinyan goes into “attack mode” against political rivals

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2025