Anthony Bowyer, IFES program manager for Europe & Asia, comments on Kyrgyz President Bakiev’s assertions on Tuesday, March 23 that Western-style democracy is not suitable for Kyrgyzstan:

"Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev's statement on the five-year anniversary of the ‘revolution’ that supposedly set the country on a democratic path away from the excesses and abuses of the Akaev regime is odd. He said western-style democracy is perhaps ‘no longer suitable’ in Kyrgyzstan, though human rights should be respected. He appears to be equating ‘western-style’ with elections and freedom of speech, media, and human rights. This is ironic on several levels: first, it was a ‘generally free-and-fair’ election that formally brought him to power in July 2005, elections being a founding element of democracy, that suited him well at the time. Yet after a carefully-managed, far less well-regarded vote four years later that solidified his grip on power (in a country that has increasingly emulated the authoritarian proclivities of its immediate neighbors), all of a sudden we are hearing that this form of participatory democracy is unsuitable. Second, as should be pointed out, individual human rights are not in the exclusive purview of western-style democracy--they are the bedrocks of democracy, period.

"In reality, the problem is not with so-called ‘western-style’ democracy in Kyrgyzstan. This term is a convenient scapegoat for the current problems (exacerbated by the ruling elite) that plague the country, much the way ‘democracy’ is held in less-than-flattering terms in Russia for the excesses of the democratically-challenged Yeltsin regime in the 1990s, let alone those of the current regime. Rather, the problem in Kyrgyzstan is a ruling elite that feels threatened by the kind of change democracy can bring about, one that will stop at nothing to hold onto power, rendering democracy impotent in the process.

"There is nothing wrong with maintaining one’s traditions, but is it not really a Soviet-style political tradition that Mr. Bakiev appears to be promulgating? It appears that some of the ideas and lessons of the last century may not be so outmoded in Kyrgyzstan after all."