KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

Political parties in Russia are the only more or less strong institutions. Nevertheless,
there is now a trend toward cooperation between political parties and NGOs in Russia.
This suggests that the parties are ready to use the capacity of NGOs, since they do not
see them as political rivals. Remarkably, such attempts to involve NGOs are made by
the parties that do not enjoy great public support. An example of it is a recent official
consolidation of the party “Rodina” (“Motherland”) with the “Motherland” NGO. 7
Ukraine
Ukraine has a very interesting experience of cooperation between he NGOs and
political parties. Typically, parties cooperate with public organizations to solve their
political and technological tasks to demonstrate that these parties have public support
[10]. There were incidents when the same person was a member of several NGOs.
However, such a tactical alliance may only be a temporary phenomenon, needed by
the parties and NGOs of Ukraine only to demonstrate the “massive” character of their
influence.
Kazakhstan
The Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan has adopted two laws on NGOs (“The
activities of Branches and Representative Offices of International or Foreign Non-Profit
Organizations in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan” and “On Amendments
and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of Kazakhstan on Non-Profit Organizations”),
which influence the political development of the country [28]. These laws are designed
to weaken the positions of NGOs and strengthen governmental control over the financial
relationship between local NGOs and international organizations. Under these laws,
NGOs are also forbidden to finance political parties and support Kazakh politicians.
This special amendment suggests that such activities took place in Kazakhstan (in
contrast to the experience of Kyrgyzstan and other countries beside Ukraine). In
2007, the President of Kazakhstan signed a third law, which imposes restrictions on
the cooperation of political parties, religious organizations, NGOs and the media with
foreign organizations and governments. 8 In general, the laws on NGOs are a part of the
broad campaign by Kazakhstan’s government to prevent a local version of the “color
revolutions” that happened in other CIS countries. According to Kazakh authorities, a
crucial role in the revolutions that occurred in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, was
played by NGOs financed from overseas. “As a result, NGOs, together with the political
parties, will become an element of Kazakhstan’s decorative “democracy” that only
creates an illusion of political pluralism” in Kazakhstan [28].
Thus, we briefly considered several options for the cooperation of NGOs with
political parties. Despite the few examples of successful cooperation, there are models
suitable for Kyrgyzstani conditions. Moreover, there are already initial positive results
of the cooperation between NGOs and parties, such as the adoption of the Law “On the
State Social Order” (11/01/2008) and the social movement “For Justice!” 9
7
More detailed information: http://rodina-nps.ru/news/regions/more/?id=675
8
A similar situation with cooperation between political parties and foreign political parties and
organizations exists in Kyrgyzstan. According to the Law of KR ‘’On Political Parties’’, parties cannot be
supported by foreign organizations.
9
In December 2007, nine opposition parties and ten NGOs of Kyrgyzstan established the first working
body – Organizational Committee [21].
52