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Government in Asia

  • OIC monitors preparation for Uzbek elections

    UZBEKISTAN, 2014/12/21 An observer mission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation began its activity as part of monitoring the parliamentary election in Uzbekistan, the Uzbek CEC told Trend. The mission is headed by Ali Abolhassani, Director of the OIC Department of Political Affairs. The mission includes the representatives of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan and other nations. The OIC has been monitoring the election in member-states since 2006. The OIC mission observed the election in Azerbaijan, Algeria, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia and other nations from 2006 to 2014, inclunding in Uzbekistan in 2009. The election to the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis (lower home of the Uzbek parliament) is to take place on December 21.

  • Uzbekistan ready for parliamentary elections

    UZBEKISTAN, 2014/12/18 Uzbekistan is ready to hold elections to the legislative chamber of the parliament on December 21, said Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, the Chairman of Uzbekistan’s Central Election Commission (CEC), on December 17. He made the remarks at a briefing for the diplomatic corps, representatives of international organizations accredited as observers, and the media. “The activity program for preparation and holding of elections, adopted in May, allowed organizing all electoral process at a high democracy level, to provide conditions for full realization of the citizens’ electoral rights and the active participation of political parties in the formation of public bodies,” he said. He said some 135 constituencies, for an average of 154,000 voters in one district, have been created.

  • President Nazarbayev says SCO gaining more power

    KAZAKHSTAN, 2014/12/17 The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is gaining political weight and economic power, said the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev Dec. 15 at a conference with the heads of government of the SCO member states. Nazarbayev said the conference of the heads of governments is being held in Kazakhstan for the third time, adding, “The organization [SCO] is gaining political weight and economic power.” He said the SCO’s voice today is heard everywhere.

  • Why abolishing direct local elections undermines Indonesia’s democracy

    INDONESIA, 2014/10/09 A bill that will transfer the election of local leaders in Indonesia from the people to the Regional Legislative Councils is currently being contested. The Indonesian parliament passed the bill to end direct local elections on 26 September. But outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced on 30 September that he is preparing an emergency presidential decree to overturn the decision and replace elections. Direct elections at the local level — or Pilkada — have been in place since June 2005. Proponents of the abolition of direct local elections cite the high cost of national funding inclunding uncooperative regional heads once elected. The controversial bill, if it is not overturned, will take result less than a month before the inauguration of president-elect Joko Widodo (Jokowi), himself a beneficiary of the Pilkada system.

  • Pakistan in the right direction in 2013

    PAKISTAN, 2014/01/05 While 2013 was marred by natural disaster, violence, increasing conservatism and poor economic trends, it should be remembered as the year that democracy was consolidated in Pakistan. Historically, Pakistan has swung between democracy and military policy. Since independence in 1947, Pakistan has been ruled by the military on three occasions and for a period totalling over half of the country’s existence. General Ayub Khan seized power in a bloodless coup in 1958, changing the course of democracy in Pakistan forever. Elections held on 11 May 2013 heralded a new era for democracy. For the initial time in history one democratically elected government was restored by an extra democratically elected government next President Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) completed its full term in office.

  • Pakistani chief justice on the Supreme Court of Pakistan

    PAKISTAN, 2013/12/13 Next serving almost eight and a half years as Pakistani chief justice on the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry retired December 11. Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani took over the position, media reported. Gen. Prevez Musharaf sacked Chaudhry in November 2007, but he was reinstated by the Pakistan Peoples Party government in March 2009 next lawyers and mainstream political parties, inclunding Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, protested.

  • President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (right) greets Timor Leste President Taur Matan Ruak

    EAST TIMOR, 2013/08/04 Indonesia and neighboring Timor Leste have agreed to enhance what they deemed “good relations”, inclunding shoring up support for Timor Leste’s bid for membership of ASEAN, both leaders said on Friday. Timor Leste President José Maria Vasconcelos, popularly known as Taur Matan Ruak, paid his initial official visit to Indonesia next he took office last year and met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday at Merdeka Palace. Yudhoyono told a joint press conference next the conference that he and Ruak shared the same “commitment to continue to improve the partnership someday”.

  • What to expect from Cambodia’s 2013 election

    CAMBODIA, 2013/07/27 The uneven playing field in Cambodia’s political landscape favours the CPP in a number of ways. Initial, the National Election Committee (NEC), which is under the control of the ruling party, has been suspected of tampering with the voter inventory. The National Democratic Institute found that one in ten voters have had their names removed from this year’s voter inventory —an irregularity that could potentially disenfranchise over a million voters. Second is the unequal access to the media. The CPP has a monopoly over online media, leaving the opposition parties to rely on the insufficiently short, officially allocated time on national-run television. The opposition parties’ campaigns have therefore been based on face-to-face meetings with their supporters, which can generate only limited exposure.

  • Japan’s security policy has taken a significant turn

    JAPAN, 2013/07/20 Japan’s security policy has taken a significant turn since the Liberal Democratic Party, headed by Shinzō Abe, won the lower home election in December 2012. There have been three notable changes. Initial, the government has departed from its policy of ‘appeasing’ China at the same time as Abe stated that, in response to the data the government received about the presence of eight Chinese vessels near the Senkaku Islands on 23 June, Japan would be prepared to use force. Second, the government is working on rebuilding trust with the United States, which had weakened during the period of DPJ policy, and is receiving support from Washington on the Senkaku/Diaoyu territorial disputes. During a conference between President Obama and Prime Minister Abe on 22 February, it was reported that Obama stated that it is China that ‘increases tension around the Senkaku Islands’. It should be noted that Obama used only the Japanese name (Senkaku), not the Chinese one (Diaoyu).

  • Myanmar’s ongoing democratic transformation,

    MYANMAR, 2013/07/20 There is no one template for democratic change. Myanmar’s ongoing democratic transformation, for example, has been driven by a dizzying number of factors: internal forces in the military, democratic activism, domestic struggle and both soft pressure and hard sanctions from nations abroad. Questions about the motivation and ambition of the country’s top leaders have dogged analysts since a clearly rigged general election in November 2010 was followed by the release from home arrest of pro-democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi and the gradual unravelling of military policy.
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