Politics
A term without end
The amendment the Mejlis will pass next week removes the two-term limit from the Elective Governor Acts. It was drafted in the Governor’s office and has had no public hearing.
From the Irad Times of 7 March 2013. Two days after this issue, the Department of Public Information suspended the paper’s registration for two months, citing “a licensing irregularity”. The website was blocked in Irad from 9 March to 14 May 2013.
The Elective Governor Acts of 1992 say a Governor may serve two four-year terms. Next Tuesday the Mejlis is expected to vote to strike out those words. The amendment is one line long. It was sent to the Mejlis by the Governor’s office on 26 February, given to the legal affairs committee on 1 March and approved by the committee the same afternoon, without a hearing.
Erlan Toktarov was elected in 2011. Under the Acts as they stand, he would leave office in 2019. Under the amendment, he need never leave.
The Governor’s office says the limit was “an American import” that “denies voters the right to choose experience”. The Acts were written by an Iradi legislature in 1992, during the territorial period, and were adopted by a vote of 31 to 4. The limit was proposed by an Iradi deputy who said at the time that “the Soviet Union taught us what happens when no one leaves”.
What the Mejlis was not told
The committee’s minutes, which the Times has seen, record that members asked for the opinion of the Supreme Court and were told by the committee chairman that none was needed. They record no discussion of the amendment’s effect on the 2015 election.
We have asked every DPI deputy whether they will vote for the amendment and why. Two answered. One said “yes, because the Governor asked”. The other said he would decide on the day.
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