Parliament approves new Kyrgyz government

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

The Kyrgyz Parliament at its plenary meeting approved the structure, composition, and program of the new government, which was presented by Acting Prime Minister Sooronbay Zheenbekov, Kabar Agency reported.

The vote on November 9 confirmed the proposals made by reappointed Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

106 deputies voted for the new program of the government and 8 parliamentarians were against. The new government structure was supported by 112 deputies, and 4 parliamentarians were against.

The structure of the government has not changed much, except some changes in the composition of the cabinet.

The new government includes one person who was not in the previous cabinet -- Cholpon Sultanbekova, who replaces Gulmira Kudaiberdieva as a deputy prime minister.

Kudaiberdieva, meanwhile, has been named Education Minister.

Five other ministers in the previous government have also been moved to different cabinet posts.

Jeenbekov's previous government resigned on October 26 after Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev's Social Democratic Party's (SPD) withdrew from the ruling coalition.

The SPD quit the alliance after some coalition partners refused to support SPD proposals for constitutional amendments that call for expanding the powers of the prime minister.

Previously, it was reported that Kyrgyzstan is preparing to shift from the presidential-parliamentary form of governance to a parliamentary system in the near future.

Led by Kyrgyzstan’s president, a number of parties represented in the parliament put forward an initiative to amend the country’s current constitution which was adopted in the referendum after the coup in 2010.

The initiators proposed to strengthen the powers of the country’s prime minister and allow combining the position of the prime minister, or deputy prime minister with MP activities.

The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan approved the bill calling a referendum on the constitutional reforms on December 11.

Kyrgyzstan is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament.