A draft of new amendments to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic was presented for public discussion. The referendum was proposed to be held on Jan. 10, the day of early presidential elections. After the publication of the proposed amendments to the Basic Law, a Constitutional Counsel began its work. This Friday, heads of following sections addressed the first press conference on the work of the Counsel: Bolot Toktobayev – Public Authorities section, member of the Counsel Cholpon Koichumanova, head of the Foundation of the Constitutional Order and Local Government section Urmat Amanaliyev and head of the Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms section Nurlan Sheripov.
About terms and stage of work
According to the speakers, the Constitutional Counsel is not limited in time to consider amendments and make changes. Bolot Toktobaev noted the main criterion of the Counsel is the quality and effective consideration of the draft and amendments.
"Each section has its own stages of development. We still have to interact with each other to make them connected. The Constitution is a single document. As soon as we finish the work, we will tell about it. No time frame was established for us. We try to review each article as efficiently and qualitatively as possible," Toktobayev said.
In her turn, member of the Counsel Cholpon Koichumanova said the Constitution should not contain such notions as "much more”, “other” and so on. We are working now to make it more specific. When we use the words “much more”, we already lay down the problem, it may cause difficulties in the future,” she explained.
About the state and Russian languages
Russian language will remain an official language. According to head of the Foundation of the Constitutional Order and Local Government Urmat Amanaliyev, different opinions were offered during the section, but it was decided to leave this norm unchanged.
"This article remains the same as it is written in the current Constitution," Amanaliyev said. He noted the article stating that the state language of the Kyrgyz Republic is the Kyrgyz language and Russian is used as the official language has already been approved.
"There are no questions in this area. Although there were proposals to use English as the official language as well," he said.
About the institute of presidency
According to the speakers, the main principle of the current work is the division of power and responsibility. Member of the Constitutional Counsel Cholpon Koichumanova emphasized the separation of powers remains, and all democratic principles will be preserved.
"All basic democratic principles are fully covered by the new version of the Constitution. Now, the main issue is that innovations are being introduced, it is the Kurultai Institute (a representative form of citizens’ participation in the discussion and decision making on issues of state and public importance),” Koichumanova said.
Head of the Public Authorities section Bolot Toktobayev explained that meanwhile, the position of the head of the government or prime minister remains, because the executive power is very cumbersome for one person.
"The executive branch includes some local authorities, administrations and other bodies, and there is a large structure. That's why our position is as follows: if the president is the head of executive power, he should have an assistant, how we call him - the head of government or the prime minister is still deciding, but our position is that we should have the head of government," Toktobaev explained.
Urmat Amanaliyev added Kyrgyzstan remains a legal and secular state.
"What are the principles of a rule-of-law state? This is the separation of powers. Questions related to the kurultai are exactly related to this principle. According to the project, it is an independent state body that can solve all issues from the president to the local government. We must adhere to the separation of executive power, legislative and judicial. These basic principles must be preserved," Amanaliev noted.
About Kurultai
Kurultai is a challenge to society. As Cholpon Koichumanova said, the society itself has matured to raise the question on kurultai. It has been introduced into the project.
"There is need to define its status now. In other words, whether it is public or state. All members of the Constitutional Counsel are working on this issue. Proceeding from the status that will be determined in the Constitution, further division of powers and responsibilities of other authorities will proceed. This is the only important issue now," Koichumanova said.
In turn, Bolot Toktobaev reminded the status of a public organization may be given to the kurultai.
"There is an opinion that the kurultai may be a public organization, representatives of people's power. We are reviewing these issues,” Toktobayev said.
About human and civil rights
In the area of human and civil rights and freedoms, all democratic norms, procedures and mechanisms laid down in the current Constitution remain, head of the Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms section Nurlan Sheripov said.
"Moreover, we strengthen them. A lot of citizens, representatives of public associations and political parties come to us, we give them an opportunity to speak out and make their proposals. We consider their views, invite specialists from relevant state bodies, listen to them and make decisions by voting. Therefore, in the field of human and civil rights and freedoms you will see very democratic and good norms," Sheripov assured.
He pointed out that the general principles of human and citizen's rights and freedoms also include clear classification, in particular, division of chapters into personal rights, civil rights, political rights and socio-economic rights.
"We also refer to constitutional and legal practice of other countries. We study the current version and introduce the most democratic norms and principles that can positively affect the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms," Sheripov said.
On Nov. 20, Acting President of Kyrgyzstan Talant Mamytov signed a decree, according to which the Constitutional Counsel was formed.
The Constitutional Counsel will discuss the concept of improving the foundations of the constitutional order; human and civil rights and freedoms; systems of state power; optimization and delineation of powers between the branches of government, as well as other issues arising from the above areas and as a result submit to the Parliament proposals on the draft law "On the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic".
The work of the Counsel is divided into three main sections:
- Foundation of the Constitutional Order. Sections related to local authorities will also be considered here.
- Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms.
- Public Authorities.
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