Kyrgyz Constitution Writing

I haven't been following this closely enough to provide much insight, but nine months after the Tulip Revolution which toppled Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, the process of reforming the Kyrgyz constitutional system has reached an impasse. Reforms were to have been made by the end of the year, but now President Kurmanbak Bakiev, whom delegates accused of seeking to impose his own version on them, is suggesting a delay in reforms until 2009. While in a nation with Kyrgyzstan's history one must be wary of continuing autocratic tendencies from the President's office, he might have a point, as the IWPR article makes it sound like there is really no national consensus on what the government should look like. Now there's talk of a referendum on basic issues, with some calling for one in early 2006 while Bakiev wants to wait until July at the earliest.

(Crossposted to American Footprints.)