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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 000648 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS KG
SUBJECT: BAKIYEV REJECTS MINISTERS' OFFER TO RESIGN, 
THREATENS TO DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: On May 2, sixteen ministers submitted their 
resignations to President Bakiyev, which Bakiyev refused to 
accept.  The offers to resign came after the Parliament on 
April 28 passed non-binding no-confidence votes against 
thirteen ministers (Parliament approved of the work of only 
three ministers).  Later on May 2, the Presidential Press 
Service issued a written statement in which President Bakiyev 
threatened to dissolve the Parliament "in the event 
insurmountable differences arise between the Parliament and 
Executive Branch."  Bakiyev's threat ) which he has the 
constitutional authority to make good on - was a clear 
warning to the Parliament not to let opposition deputies 
drive the legislative branch agenda.  However, few observers 
believe Bakiyev will move anytime soon to actually dissolve 
the Parliament.  END SUMMARY. 
 
ALTOGETHER NOW, RESIGN! 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) According to both press reports and Embassy 
contacts, on May 2 sixteen ministers, including the two Vice 
Prime Ministers, offered their resignations, which President 
Bakiyev refused to accept.  At a press conference 
specifically called to discuss the resignation offers, Vice 
Prime Minister Adakhan Madumarov said that sixteen tendered 
their resignations during a cabinet meeting with President 
Bakiyev on May 2.  According to Madumarov, Bakiyev listened 
carefully to each minister, and then refused to accept their 
offers to resign.  However, according to Madumarov, Bakiyev 
did thank the ministers for "taking a manly step" and 
offering to resign.  (Note:  He can say this as there are no 
female ministers in the government.  End note.) 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Madumarov said that Bakiyev also "categorically 
disagreed" with Parliament's April 28 votes of no-confidence 
against the thirteen ministers.  Madumarov acknowledged, 
however, that although the votes by the Parliament are 
non-binding, they do carry "moral responsibility." 
 
¶4.  (C) Parliamentarian Omurbek Babanov told PolOff that the 
offer to resign was nothing more than a sideshow and an empty 
gesture towards the Parliament.  Opposition leader and 
parliamentarian Kubatbek Baibolov, however, told PolOff that 
the resignations were part of a failed ploy on the part of 
the Presidential Administration to force Prime Minister Kulov 
out of the government.  According to Baibolov, sixteen 
ministers and vice prime ministers signed a document 
officially declaring their intention to resign (the text of 
the document has been reprinted in the Kyrgyz press).  The 
hope, according to Baibolov, was that Kulov, as head of the 
government, would add his name to the document, at which 
point Bakiyev would accept all of the resignations.  However, 
Kulov apparently refused to add his name to the document, 
thereby dooming the plan.  (NOTE: Kulov, along with three 
other ministers, received positive evaluations from the 
Parliament on April 28.  However, the three other ministers 
who received a positive evaluation DID sign the resignation 
offer.  END NOTE).  Baibolov mocked the plan as "childish and 
primitive," but said it was typical of the way the Bakiyev 
administration operates.  Baibolov said the move to oust 
Kulov was in retaliation for Kulov's alleged support for the 
April 29 opposition demonstration.  According to Baibolov, 
many in the Presidential Administration believe that Kulov 
tacitly supported the demonstration in hopes of putting 
pressure on Bakiyev. 
 
THREAT TO DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT "AN EMPTY BLUFF"? 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5.  (C) The text of the document signed by the sixteen 
ministers offering to resign also claimed that the 
no-confidence vote by the Parliament created "insurmountable 
differences between the Parliament and government."  (NOTE: 
 
BISHKEK 00000648  002 OF 002 
 
 
The ambiguous phrase "insurmountable differences" is a key 
one, lifted directly from the Kyrgyz Constitution's 
deliberately vague language spelling out conditions under 
which the President can legally dissolve the Parliament.  END 
NOTE.)  Later on May 2, the Presidential Press Service issued 
a press release regarding the tendered resignations.  The 
press statement quoted President Bakiyev, highlighting the 
same phrase, as saying that "in the event of insurmountable 
differences between the Parliament and Executive Branch, I 
will be required to exercise my constitutional right and 
undertake decisive measures in relation to the Parliament." 
Bakiyev's threat to take "decisive measures" clearly meant 
dissolving the Parliament.  One political observer familiar 
with Daniyar Narymbayev, the President's representative in 
Parliament, noted that the use of the phrase pointed directly 
at Narymbayev as the possible author of the statement signed 
by the sixteen ministers. 
 
¶6.  (C) Both Babanov and Baibolov dismissed Bakiyev's 
statement about dissolving the Parliament as an empty threat. 
 Baibolov said that Bakiyev lacks the decisiveness and 
political strength to actually dismiss the legislature. 
Nevertheless, Baibolov acknowledged that "perhaps 80 percent" 
of deputies fear that Bakiyev might some day move to dissolve 
the Parliament. 
 
¶7.  (C) COMMENT:  Baibolov's claim that the resignations were 
part of a failed plan to force Kulov out may be far-fetched. 
But given the depths to which Bakiyev and Kulov have gone in 
the past to undermine one another, and the current antipathy 
between Bakiyev and opposition deputies in Parliament, it 
cannot be ruled out.  It is also likely that the mass 
resignation was part of a larger effort to discredit and 
intimidate the Parliament, initiated from the Presidential 
Administration.  It is conceivable that the "insurmountable 
differences" wording could give Bakiyev the means to dissolve 
the Parliament, and then subsequently pressure the Central 
Election Commission to prevent opposition parliamentarians 
from obtaining registration as election candidates.  More 
likely, however, Bakiyev may try to hold this threat over the 
head of Parliament for some time in hopes of getting a more 
pliant, Bakiyev-friendly legislature.  It may also be 
intended as a shot across the bow of Baibolov and other 
opposition deputies currently planning another major 
demonstration on May 27. 
YOVANOVITCH