1. B E N E D I C T ( V I K T O R ) G O M B O C Z
Politics of Kyrgyzstan

2. Geography of Kyrgyzstan
 Location: Central Asia, between Kazakhstan
and Tajikistan
 Area:
 Total: 199,951 sq km
 Country comparison to the world: 87
 Land: 191,801 sq km
 Water: 8,150 sq km
 Area – comparative: Slightly smaller than
South Dakota
 Land boundaries:
 Total: 3,051 km
 Border countries: China 858 km, Kazakhstan 1,224
km, Tajikistan 870 km, Uzbekistan 1,099 km
 Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

3. Physical Map of Kyrgyzstan

4. Religion in Kyrgyzstan
 The Constitution and the law offer freedom of religion in Kyrgyzstan,
and the Government, in practice, usually valued this liberty.
 In contrast, the Government limited the activities of extremist Islamic
groups that they saw as dangers to stability and safety, obstructing or
prohibiting the registration of some Christian churches.
 The Constitution offers separation of church and state, forbidding
bigotry on the basis of religion or religious views.
 Whereas the Government did not formally endorse any specific
religion, a 6 May 2006 ruling acknowledged Islam and Russian
Orthodoxy as traditional religious groups.
 There was no alteration in the standing of respect for religious liberty
in the period addressed by this report; the Government still observed
and limited Islamist groups that it saw as dangers to safety.
 Some Christian groups still endured hindrances in registration.
 The State Agency for Religious Affairs (SARA), previously known as
the State Commission on Religious Affairs (SCRA), is liable for
advancing religious acceptance, defending freedom of conscience, and
supervising laws on religion.
 All religious groups, such as schools, need to request approval of
registration from the SARA.
 Though most religious groups and factions functioned with little
intervention from the Government or each other, there were some
instances of public mistreatment on the basis of religious views and
customs.
 An increase in tensions between Muslims and ex-Muslims who
converted to other religious faiths was seen; in one such instance, a
crowd offended by a Baptist pastor’s conversion of Muslims to
Christianity openly beat him and destroyed his bibles and religious
text.

5. Religion statistics
 Muslim 75%
 Russian Orthodox 20%
 Other 5%

6. Kyrgyzstan's political system: Introduction
 Kyrgyzstan’s politics function in the structure of a parliamentary representative democratic
republic; the President serves as head of state, and the PM of Kyrgyzstan serves as head of
government.
 The government exercises executive power; legislative power is vested in both the government
and parliament.

7. Kyrgyzstan's political system: Government
 Capital (and largest city): Bishkek
 Official languages: Kyrgyz (state),
Russian (official)
 Demonym: Kyrgyz, Kyrgyzstani
 Government: Unitary parliamentary
republic
 President: Almazbek Atambayev
 Prime Minister: Zhantoro Satybaldiyev
 Legislature: Supreme Council

8. Main office holders
Election of the President
and the Prime Minister
 Office: President
 Name: Almazbek Atambayev
 Party: Social Democratic Party of
Kyrgyzstan
 Since: 1 December 2011
 Office: Prime Minister
 Name: Zhantoro Satybaldiyev
 Party: None
 Since: 5 September 2012
 The president is elected through popular
vote to a five-year term; the PM is chosen
by the parliament.
Kyrgyzstan's political system: Executive branch

9. Kyrgyzstan's political system: Legislative branch
 During the Soviet period, Kyrgyzstan (then the Kirghiz SSR)
had a unicameral legislature, replaced in 1995 by the bicameral
Supreme Council (Жогорку Кеңеш; Joghorku Keneš).
 The Supreme Council was made up of the Assembly of People’s
Representatives (45 seats; its members were elected through
popular vote from single member constituencies) and the
Legislative Assembly (60 seats; 45 members were elected
though popular vote from single-member constituencies, while
15 members were from national party lists on a proportional
basis with a 5% threshold).
 Every legislative term was five years.
 In 2005, as part of the 2005 election procedure and in line with
a 2003 referendum, the Parliament again became unicameral;
the Legislative Assembly (Жогорку Кеңеш; Myizam Chygaruu
Jyiyny) comprised 75 members, elected to five-year terms from
single-seat constituencies.
 Conversely, due to the political turmoil, a new constitutional
referendum was held on 21 October 2007 which authorized a
new electoral structure, expanding the parliament to 90
members and introducing party-list voting, a proportional
representation structure of voting in which nominees are
chosen from central party lists, as opposed to being locally
elected.
 Early parliamentary elections occurred on 16 December 2007.

10. Kyrgyzstan's political system: Political parties represented
in the Supreme Council
 Ata-Zhurt (28)
 Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (26)
 Ar-Namys (25)
 Respublika Party of Kyrgyzstan (23)
 Ata Meken Socialist Party (18)

11. Kyrgyzstan's political system: Political pressure groups and
leaders
 Council of Free Trade Unions
 Kyrgyz Committee on Human Rights – Ramazan Dyryldayev
 National Unity Democratic Movement
 Union of Entrepreneurs
 Central Asian Free Market Institute

12. Kyrgyzstan's political system: Judicial branch
 Whereas the constitution offers an independent judiciary,
the court structure of Kyrgyzstan is broadly viewed as
being under the prosecutor’s office’s influence.
 Low wages make the corruption of judges usual.
 Most cases start in local courts; they can move by means
of the appeals procedure to municipal or regional courts,
with the Supreme Court as the last court of appeals.
 Property and family law quarrels and low-level criminal
cases are heard by traditional elders’ courts, loosely
managed by the prosecutor’s office; financial quarrels and
military cases are heard in specialized courts.
 The 2003 constitutional reforms extended the range of
the Supreme Court in civil, criminal, and administrative
proceedings.
 Numerous protections of Western jurisprudence are not
seen in Kyrgyzstan's structure, with numerous elements
of the Soviet structure still active.
 The freedom to counsel and the presumption of the
accused are promised by law, even though they are
frequently not practiced; trial by jury is nonexistent.
 Reform legislation under deliberation in 2006 would
create a jury structure and strengthen the judicial
branch’s independence.
 Prosecutor General
 Nurlan Tursunkulov

13. Kyrgyzstan's political system: Administrative divisions
 Kyrgyzstan is split into seven provinces
(plural: oblastlar, singular: oblasty) and
one city* (shaar):
 Batken Oblasty (Batken)
 Bishkek Shaary*
 Chuy Oblasty (Bishkek)
 Jalal-Abad Oblasty (Jalal-Abad)
 Naryn Oblasty (Naryn)
 Osh Oblasty (Osh)
 Talas Oblasty (Talas)
 Ysyk-Kol Oblasty (Karakol)
 note: administrative center names in
parentheses

14. Almazbek Atambayev
 Born in Arashan on 17 September 1956.
 4th and current President of Kyrgyzstan since 1
December 2011.
 Previously served as PM of Kyrgyzstan from 14
November 2011-1 December 2011; also served as
PM from 29 March 2007-28 November 2007
and from 17 December 2010-23 September 2011.
 Was also Chairman of the Social Democratic
Party of Kyrgyzstan from 30 July 1999-23
September 2011.
 Earned his degree in economics while he studied
at the Moscow Institute of Management.
 Has four children from his marriage to his first
wife, Buazhar (two sons, Seyit and Seytek, and
two daughters, Diana and Dinara.
 Married his second wife, Raisa, (an ethnic Tatar,
born in the Urals in Russia, who moved to Osh as
a child, with her parents; she is a doctor by
profession) in 1988; they have two children: a
son, Khadyrbek, and a daughter: Aliya.

15. Zhantoro Satybaldiyev
 Born in Osh on 6 March 1956.
 Current PM of Kyrgyzstan since 5
September 2012.
 Was elected as PM by the Parliament of
Kyrgyzstan on 5 September 2012 by a 111-
2 margin.
 His election followed the fall of the
previous PM Omurbek Babanov’s
coalition in August, after accusations of
corruption and a sharp reduction in 5%
GDP between January and July 2012.
 Commonly viewed as a technocrat; was
elected to restore order and bring back
savings and assurance to Kyrgyzstan.

16. Bishkek

17. The End