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International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy
Advancing Democracy:
Advancing Democracy is the bi-monthly newsletter of the International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy highlighting democratic developments around the world of particular interest to parliamentarians. We hope the information found in this newsletter will be helpful to parliamentarians seeking to strengthen the promotion of democracy in your country and globally. We welcome any suggestions you may have for content in future issues of Advancing Democracy. Please send your suggestion to Tiffany Lynch at jamesb@ned.org. Feel free to share the newsletter with colleagues and encourage them to join the network. More information about the IMPD and how to become a member can be found at www.wmd.org/impd/main.html.
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Table of Contents I. Developments in Democracy
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KYRGYZSTAN
Askar Akayev has formally resigned as Kyrgyzstan's president, after he was ousted by protesters last month. Mr. Akayev signed a resignation agreement in Moscow, where he had fled to after demonstrators stormed his offices in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. The move follows talks on Sunday with Kyrgyzstan's new interim leaders. They wanted Mr. Akayev to formally resign so that fresh presidential elections could be held to decide his successor. Mr. Akayev announced on Sunday that he would resign, following talks with a parliamentary delegation from Kyrgyzstan at the country's embassy in Moscow. The talks came hours after Kyrgyzstan's Constitutional Court said Mr. Akayev could legally resign in exile. Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiev had said his predecessor should not return to Kyrgyzstan to step down as this would risk destabilizing the country. But the interim leadership wanted him to resign in order to pave the way for presidential elections, which they have tentatively scheduled for June 26. Mr. Akayev fled Kyrgyzstan on March 24, after thousands of demonstrators called for his resignation and overran his government offices. They had complained about official corruption, and disputed parliamentary elections. Political chaos followed, as the legislature in power before the disputed elections, and the one subsequently elected, vied for legitimacy. The old parliament eventually gave up its claim.
EGYPT
Egyptian authorities released Ayman Nour from prison Saturday after supporters posted his bail. The politician's detention had drawn worldwide criticism. During 24 years in power, Mubarak's six-year terms have been ratified in referendums in which people voted "yes" or "no." Last month, Mubarak announced that he would allow opposition candidates to run against him in elections scheduled for September. Details of his plan are still being worked out, but the new rules are expected to be approved by May in parliament, where Mubarak's National Democratic Party controls 85 percent of the seats. Nour had campaigned for multi-candidate elections, and has pressed for presidential term limits and the lifting of emergency laws that have suppressed free speech and assembly in Egypt for a quarter century. Authorities arrested Nour Jan. 29 after the state prosecutor alleged that he had falsified more than 1,000 documents filed as part of legal requirements to gain official authorization for his Tomorrow Party. The government's political parties commission had rejected Nour's petition for three years but finally approved it in October. After Nour was arrested, members of the commission said they had not had time to inspect the papers, which are individual statements of founding membership. A party needs to file 50 to meet the requirements. Nour denied he forged any of the documents and said he was being framed.
ZIMBABWE
Ruling party officials have claimed a crushing victory in parliamentary elections, but opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai condemned what he called widespread fraud and called on Zimbabweans to defend their rights. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change appeared to have lost seats from the 57 it won in 2000. But criticism of the election here and in the West underscored the view that its losses were due to fraud by the regime of President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe, 81, who has ruled since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980, appoints 30 of the 150 members of the assembly. Of the remaining 120 seats, the MDC failed to win the 51 it needed to block the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union from changing the constitution, strengthening its grip on power and preparing the way for a party member to succeed Mugabe. The opposition and human-rights groups have criticized the election as unfair because of the denial of food by ruling party officials to opposition supporters, a highly suspect voters roll padded with up to 2 million dead or bogus voters, and uneven access to the media.
LEBANON
Syria will withdraw all its troops from Lebanon by April 30, the UN envoy to the Middle East has said. Terje Roed-Larsen was given the details for the pull-out of remaining forces when he met Syrian leaders in Damascus. Syria earlier pledged to remove its armed forces before Lebanon's elections in May, but had no firm timetable. Calls for Syria to end its military presence in Lebanon grew following the assassination in February of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The Lebanese opposition accused Syria of being behind the car bomb that killed Hariri, and street protests led to the downfall of the pro-Syrian administration in Beirut, though Damascus denied any involvement. Mr. Roed-Larsen announced the final withdrawal date after holding talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara. Syria has already completed the first stage of the withdrawal, cutting its troops numbers in Lebanon by almost half to 8,000 and pulling the rest back to the eastern Bekaa valley.
NEPAL
Security forces arrested hundreds of people calling for the restoration of democracy in the biggest protests since King Gyanendra imposed emergency rule last month. The Himalayan kingdom's five main political parties had called on their members to defy a ban on protests to register their opposition to Gyanendra's assumption of absolute power, which has been condemned by the governments of India, the United States and Britain. The biggest protest was in the eastern town of Janakpur. The Communist Party of Nepal said 500 activists were arrested there, while Brij Kumar Yadav, a Janakpur journalist, estimated there had been 300 arrests. A crackdown by security forces muted the response elsewhere.
Iraq, April 3
Casting secret ballots, the members chose Hajim al-Hassani, a Sunni Arab, as the speaker and picked a Shia Muslim and a Kurd as his deputies. The minister received the largest share of votes cast on Sunday: 215 to 157 for his nearest rival, Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shia Muslim former nuclear scientist. The assembly is due to reconvene when it is expected to name a new president, tipped to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani.
Founded in February 2003, the IMPD is an international coalition of parliamentarians dedicated to the defense and promotion of democracy around the world. Affiliated with the World Movement for Democracy, its current membership is 227 parliamentarians from 33 countries.
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