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Speakers at the November 5 event emphasised that protests which erupted following Kyrgyzstan’s disputed election had been fuelled by citizens concerned about hard-won constitutional rights.
“The way electoral institutions are designed is really at the heart of the protracted political issues Kyrgyzstan is having right now,” said Colleen Wood, a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. “Kyrgyzstan’s constitution maintains a very careful balance of power between the president and the parliament which is manifested in the rules of how the president should conduct his or her duties, how the elections are run, how power is gained in the parliament.”