After the Revolution

Don’t like the government? Create your own.

That’s what an organization of opposition parties in Kyrgyzstan has done. Members of “Movement for Justice” have created their own “Public Parliament.”

The founders of the Public Parliament claim that it is not meant to replace the current parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh.

They say it is only a platform for them to express their views, seeing as they’re almost completely excluded from the actual government.

Kyrgyzstan’s parliament consists almost entirely of members of a single party – the one loyal to Kyrgyzstan’s president.

The parliamentary election, which took place Dec. 16, was marred with complaints of ballot-stuffing. More to the opposition’s dismay, electoral rules demanded that political parties win a minimum number of votes in each of nine regions in order to merit a seat. The most popular opposition party failed to earn a single spot, while the president’s party claimed 71 of the parliament’s 90 seats.

The alternative parliament is made up of 50 party leaders, politicians and civil society activists.

An alternative “cabinet of ministers” had been created earlier. 

This article by columnist Kumar Bekbolotov from the Institute for War & Peace Reporting claims that some organizers want more than the freedom of expression. Bekbolotov says a clandestine revolutionary operation that has been in the works may take to the streets starting next month.