Back to the khanate?

摘要

NO ONE CAN accuse Sadyr Japarov, the president of Kyrgyzstan, of lacking ambition. Sprung out of prison and into office during political unrest six months ago, he has now won a popular mandate to grant himself unchecked powers as he redesigns the Central Asian country's political architecture. On April 11th, three months after his landslide victory in a presidential election, a thumping majority of voters-79%-endorsed a constitutional blueprint granting him overweening powers, albeit with a turnout of just 37%. The new arrangements do away with the parliamentary system introduced after Kyrgyzstan's second post-Soviet revolution in 2010 to safeguard against strongman rule. Henceforth the president will make all important political and security appointments and control a cabinet headed by his chief of staff, with the post of prime minister scrapped. He will be able to dabble in parliamentary and judicial business, appoint judges and propose legislation to an emasculated parliament. It will function in an awkward tandem with the "People's Kurultai", an as yet undefined new assembly that may be able to bypass parliament.