Opposition groups attack new anti-demonstration law

Kazakh opposition leaders lambasted a new law banning demonstrations immediately after polling day in Kazakhstan, claiming the bill was seriously restricting civil rights and freedoms ahead of presidential polls set for late 2006. "This is definitely a targeted measure that the authorities think can prevent any events similar to those that happened in Kiev and Bishkek," Petr Svoik, a senior official with the For a Fair Kazakhstan opposition alliance, told IRIN from the Kazakh commercial capital Almaty, on Monday. Asylbek Kozhakhmetov, head of banned opposition party Democratic Choice of Kazahkstan, agreed with the sentiment. "It is a reflection of fear on behalf of the ruling regime against free expression of the people's will. They just want to ban everything, but recent events in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan show that such an approach does not have any future," Kozhakhmetov told IRIN. Their comments followed the adoption of amendments to the country's election law on Friday. The new law approved by the Kazakh parliament, dominated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev's loyalists, stipulates that any demonstrations following polling day will be banned until the announcement of official results. The recent people's power revolutions in several former Soviet republics, including developments during March in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan after alleged fraud during elections, has put Central Asian authoritarian regimes on the alert, observers say. "The new law does not comply with international standards and there is a clear political context [behind the move] because the authorities are openly stating that they will not allow any scenarios like [those] in Georgia, Ukraine and now in Kyrgyzstan," Amangeldy Shormanbayev, a lawyer with the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (IBHRRL), told IRIN. "They became particularly scared after the events in Kyrgyzstan and it is obvious." The government does not want to tackle the root cause of possible public discontent, which is election fraud, but is preparing to deal with any expression of that instead, Kozhakhmetov suggested. "The problem is not just what is written in the law, the issue is openly undisguised fraud both during voting and after polls while counting results. The authorities understand that they will have to resort to a flawed election and therefore they want to insure themselves from any protest actions with regard to fraud," Svoik agreed. "During previous elections the courts were simply ordered not to accept any complaints or cases related to election disputes. The office of the prosecutor used the same tactic of not replying to any appeals," Svoik maintained. Kazakh parliamentary elections, held in September-October 2004, fell short of international standards, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said soon after the poll. The Kazakh Network of Independent Monitors (KNIM), a local monitoring body, said that the elections were a step backwards compared to earlier polls. The elections returned overwhelmingly pro-government candidates. "There have been gross violations and the elections were not democratic," Zhan Konserkin, a lawyer for the KNIM, told IRIN earlier. The 'For a Fair Kazakhstan' alliance said in a statement that the law was approved without thorough public discussion and urged the OSCE to organise roundtables involving all the parties with a view of improving the legislation based on Kazakhstan's commitments as a member of the OSCE.