At the constitutional meeting, President Kurmanbek Bakiev spoke against immunity for the president, prime minister and parliamentarians, connecting it to the growth of corruption. However, several parliamentarians expressed their anxiety over the possibility of this amendment being used to remove or at least to manipulate them. The Speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) Omurbek Tekebaev and other parliamentarians regarded the President’s remarks as populist, because during Akaev’s rule immunity was also rolled back, and it was mainly used to remove some parliamentarians, leading to the neutralization of the parliament, instead of fighting corruption. It was also proposed to revoke some of the immunity and privileges of former President Askar Akaev. However, the Speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh disagreed since laws should not be applied retroactively.

Supporters of the proposal argued that immunity was the reason why various candidates with a shaky reputation ran for parliament. They point to the fact that former Prime Minister Nikolay Tanaev, who is being charged with financial violations and abuse of power, announced intentions to run for parliament.

Right after the March revolution, constitutional reforms became one of the priorities of the new government. Since the independence of Kyrgyzstan, referendums have been held five times, leading to constitutional changes to the favor of former President Askar Akaev. Hence analyst claim the Constitution does not restrain the incumbent president from gaining absolute power. However, even after seven months, there were no noticeable sign of progress.

The President was criticized for slow progress in the constitutional reforms. Frustration over slow progress of constitutional reforms and breaking away from Akaev’s regime has damaged President Bakievs popularity. Revolutionary momentum was lost when he supported the current Parliament’s legitimacy right after the March revolution. However, to boost the morale, U.S. State Secretary Condoleeza Rice visited Bishkek on October 11 and urged President Bakiev to finalize constitutional reforms by the end of the year.

After constant criticisms from the opposition and civil society for gathering like-minded people and for being the Chairman of the Constitutional Council himself, President Kurmanbek Bakiev on October 12 issued a decree to include some people from the opposition, like former Prosecutor General Azimbek Beknazarov, who was removed from his position for alleged incompetence. Moreover, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Roza Otumbaeva, who was not approved by the Parliament, the Chairman of the Kyrgyz Commission on Human Rights, Ramazan Dyryldaev, and others, were included. The membership of the Constitutional meeting has now grown from initially 144 members to 277, and now to 289.

The overall membership of the Constitutional meeting includes people of various backgrounds – representatives of civil society, political parties, business, government officials, and the opposition. However, Raya Kadyrova, a member of the Constitutional Council and President of the foundation Tolerance International, says she is disappointed by the fact that many members depend on government salaries and that the way they vote is predictable. In her view, the president is not honoring his promise of a dialogue with civil society.

Another issue that has raised debate is the future governmental system. \"The authority of a nationally elected president has to be greater because he is elected by the whole Kyrgyzstani nation,\" said President Bakiev, arguing that the current Parliament already has enough powers. On the other hand, the Speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh argues for increasing the role of the Parliament and Cabinet of Ministers. He pointed out that during the last 14 years Kyrgyzstan had eight different prime ministers and ten different cabinets. He also emphasized the necessity to inform the public about the parliamentarian system of government because past experience showed that much depends on how well it is informed about changes.

The term of the presidency is also drawing much attention. Currently, the law stipulates that the president cannot be elected for more than two consecutive terms. In a speech to the meeting, former Speaker of the Parliament Medetkan Sherimkulov proposed to drop the word ‘consecutive’ to limit the presidency only for two terms in life. A one-term presidency, to restrain possible clinging to power, was also considered several months ago, but there were too many doubts that president could fully implement his program and show tangible results within that period.

Another concern has been the elections to the Jogorku Kenesh, whether it should be through party lists or single mandates, or a mixed system. “MPs are still connected to their constituencies and act like a single person. Mainly regional interests are represented in the Parliament” said Karsten Shenfield, an German MP. A party list system or a mixed system, he argued, would contribute to the reduction of clashes of single mandate candidates’ supporters and help to advance more structured parties, based on specific platforms and ideologies, and with lesser regional affiliations.