Johanna Popjanevski - The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst

Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 12 December 2007 19COMPARING PRO-PRESIDENTIAL PARTIES IN CENTRAL ASIAErica MaratDespite obvious differences in the post-Sovietdevelopment, Central Asian states are increasinglysimilar in the way that one pro-regime partydominates the local political scenery. The process ofrapid centralization of political systems took placein Uzbekistan in the late 1990s, Tajikistan in theearly 2000s, and in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in2007.For the most part, these changes followed theextreme decentralization of the political system andthe emergence of a consolidated opposition. In thisrespect, the strongest intra-governmental andparliamentary fractions evolved in states withseveral parties where clan and family structuresenjoyed unrestricted access to political andeconomic resources.In one-party systems in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, andTurkmenistan, members of ruling elites’ familiesare eliminated from active participation in thepolitical and economic domains. In states withseveral political parties competing for power, rulingelites’ family members, by contrast, occupiedleading positions in the political and economicdomains.At various periods in the recent history ofKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan,presidential family members contributed to thedecentralization of state power by participating inpolitical and economic processes on a national level.Incumbent presidents’ offspring led their ownpolitical fractions, where potential parliamentarycandidates preferred to register to increase theirchances of electoral victory. By distributing officesand economic assets, presidents’ family membersinadvertently contributed to the destabilization ofruling regimes.Uzbekistan’s five political parties were createdalready by the late 1990s. Only the LiberalDemocratic Party (LDP) was launched in December2003, and was able to acquire 34% of votes – morethan any other party – in the 2004 elections. Each ofthe five parties represented in the parliament claimsto have its own niche in the society, uniting theintelligentsia, youth, farmers, arts community andlawyers. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), asuccessor of former Communist Party, identifiesitself as in opposition to all other political partiespresent in the government. However, as otherpolitical parties represented in the parliament, thePDP is loyal to the president.After almost three years of Kurmanbek Bakiev’sleadership in Kyrgyzstan, corruption rates surged inthe government and private sector, making statestructures more unpredictable, ineffective, andsusceptible to internal shocks. In late 2007, Bakievwas able to prevail over other political forces inKyrgyzstan by creating a powerful pro-regime bloc,“Ak Zhol”. His political bloc largely followed themodel of centralization of presidential powersmaintained by ruling regimes in Kazakhstan,Russia, and Tajikistan. Ak Zhol constitutes apolitical force that controls all state structures andenables the President to configure the domesticsituation according to his own interests. The partymay well win a majority of seats in the December 16parliamentary elections, despite Bakiyev’s lowpopularity.Although Kazakhstan and Tajikistan differ fromone another in their economic development, theyboth have a pro-presidential political party thatdominates the parliament and government.Kazakhstan’s Nur Otan and Tajikistan’s Peoples’Democratic Party (PDP) are both created andmanaged by the presidents. Both Kazakh presidentNursultan Nazarbayev and Tajik presidentEmomali Rakhmon appoint and sack partymembers, representing the single most importantsource of authority. There is a limited mobilizationof political forces outside the public domain.Kazakhstan’s largest political party, Nur Otan, wasfounded in 1999, collecting about a million members.