By empty (10/15/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The co-chairmen of the Kazakh reformist Ak Zhol (Bright Path) Party told a news conference in Almaty on 15 October that the recent nationwide local-council elections showed that Kazakhstan needs to adopt new election laws and join the CIS Convention on Standards for Free and Fair Elections. The elections were held on 20 September and 12 October. Ak Zhol co-Chairmen Alikhan Baimenov and Bulat Abilov noted that there have been numerous reports of election-law violations during the two rounds of campaigning, many of them involving interference by executive-branch organs in the election process.By empty (10/15/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Musavat Party Chairman Gambar told journalists at his headquarters late on 15 October that his observers who witnessed the vote count at an unspecified number of polling stations concluded that Gambar collected 60 percent of the vote. He said he will not yield to what he termed the authorities\' attempt to steal the election. Exit polls of 2,414 voters at 200 polling stations throughout Azerbaijan conducted by the independent ADAM Center and Turan gave Gambar 46.By empty (10/13/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Murat Zyazikov told journalists in Moscow on 13 October that he sees no need to restore the Checheno-Ingush Republic, which split into its two constituent parts in the summer of 1992. Chechen President-elect Kadyrov referred during his 10 October press conference to the possibility of such a merger. Zyazikov, however, argued that a merger would not be economically viable, as both republics require major subsidies from the federal center.By empty (10/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Speaking at a press conference in Moscow on 10 October, Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov said he wants the Kremlin to bestow special economic privileges upon Chechnya, specifically allowing the republic to retain until 2010 all taxes and revenues from the sale of oil. Kadyrov also reaffirmed his intention to set up a commission to determine who was responsible for the 1991 dissolution of the Supreme Soviet of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR, branding as one of the culprits then-Russian Supreme Soviet speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, whom he referred to as \"an enemy of the [Chechen] people.\" Kadyrov said he plans to strengthen the Chechen police force as a preliminary step to securing the withdrawal from Chechnya of all Russian forces except for one motorized division and one brigade of Russian Interior Ministry troops, which will be permanently stationed there.The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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