Political Parties in Kyrgyzstan: Driving Forces

Abstract

Political parties are one of the key elements of a democracy. In its transition to democracy, the political party system in Kyrgyzstan has developed in an interesting manner. According to the recent published list of political parties, registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic, there are 188 political parties in Kyrgyzstan. For Kyrgyzstan, with its 6 million people population, this is a large number. Besides being numerous, Kyrgyz political parties have gained their monopoly over other political actors following the transition to parliamentary system in 2010. Currently, all members of the parliament (Jogorku Kenesh) are elected from party lists. In addition, since the parliament is the only legislative power of the state, the elected party members get to obtain and exercise the legislative power. However, the political party system in Kyrgyzstan is yet far from being considered sustainable and healthy. The exceptional role of party elites act as a basis for the identity of their parties, members of parliament detach their personal political identities from their parties, or even shift from one party to another, easily established and easily dissolved parties characterize party system in the country for an ordinary observer. On the basis of such a weak and unstable party system, it is a factual paradox that parties have given such importance and responsibility to rule the country. This paper mainly focuses on identifying and discussing the driving forces behind political party system development in Kyrgyzstan and party-member relations.