In Kyrgyzstan, constitutional changes in the form of government accompanied and legalized important events in the country’s political life. The first Constitution of sovereign Kyrgyzstan of May 5, 1993 established a presidentialized form of government typical of the post-Soviet space. For most of its legal features, it gravitated toward a presidential republic and yet was not identical to it. Given the lack of dualism of the executive branch, it was impossible to consider it a mixed republic. This form of government has repeatedly been subject to various adjustments. The constitutional changes of October 21, 2007 provided a significant parliamentarization of the form of government, but generally did not overcome its authoritarian nature. The Constitution of Kyrgyzstan, as amended by the Venice Commission on October 21, 2007, ‘preserved the semi-presidential system, but <…> in fact, political powers are again concentrated in the hands of the President’. A fundamental revision of the form of government took place in 2010, when a new Constitution of Kyrgyzstan was approved in a referendum. The Constitution of Kyrgyzstan of June 27, 2010 enshrined a mixed republican form of government.

On April 11, 2021, a constitutional referendum was held in Kyrgyzstan, which amended the basic law of the state. On the same day, the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan was held, in which the acting president, politician Sadyr Zhaparov, won. This clearly demonstrated the role of a subjective factor in the constitutional process. The constitutional changes affected all sections of Kyrgyzstan’s constitution, but their most important consequence was the introduction of a new eclectic form of government with a hypertrophied constitutional status of the president. The authoritarian potential of this form of government is as high as that of a classical presidential republic, which gives reason to expect the erosion of the weakened institutions of democracy and the development of the phenomenon of superpresidency in the country.

The scientific article examines the legal features of the form of government introduced by the constitutional referendum on April 11, 2021, attempts to classify it correctly, and analyzes its shortcomings.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Krasnov M, Shablinskij I, Rossijskaya sistema vlasti: treugol’nik s odnim uglom (Institut prava i publichnoj politiki 2008) (in Russian).

 2. Chirkin V, Glava gosudarstva. Sravnitel’no-pravovoe issledovanie (Norma: Infra-M 2010) (in Russian).

Edited and translated books

3. Sartori Dzh, Porivnialna konstytuciina inzheneriia: doslidzhennia struktur, motyviv i rezulitativ (per z 2-ho anhl vyd, ArtEk 2001) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

4. Shapoval V, ‘Vykonavcha vlada v Ukraini u konteksti formy derzhavnoho pravlinnia (dosvid do pryiniattia Konstytutsii Ukrainy 1996 roku)’ (2016) 3 Pravo Ukrainy (in Ukrainian).

5. Shapoval V, ‘Vykonavcha vlada v Ukraini u konteksti formy derzhavnoho pravlinnia (dosvid pislia pryiniattia Konstytutsii Ukrainy 1996 roku)’ (2016) 4 Pravo Ukrainy (in Ukrainian).