The Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan, also known as the ''Jogorku Kenesh'' (, ), is the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

. Before Kyrgyzstan's independence from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1991, it was known as the

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...

of the

Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirghiz SSR), also known as the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kyrgyz SSR), KySSR or Kirgiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirgiz SSR), was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1 ...

. The parliament has 90 seats, with members elected for a five-year term by two methods: party-list proportional voting (54 seats) and

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

(36 seats).

History

During Soviet rule, it was known as the

Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR was the legislative branch of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic. Convocations *1st convocation (1938–1946) *2nd convocation (1946–1950) *3rd convocation (1950–1954) *4th convocation (195 ...

. From August 1991, when Kyrgyzstan gained independence from the Soviet Union, until October 2007, when the Constitution was changed in a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

, the Supreme Council consisted of the Legislative Assembly (, ; ) and the Assembly of People's Representatives (, ; ) with 60 and 45 members, respectively. The members of both houses were elected to five-year terms. In the Assembly of People's Representatives all 45 members were elected in single-seat

constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

; in the Legislative Assembly 45 members were elected in single-seat constituencies and 15 were elected through party lists. Since October 2007, the Supreme Council is a unicameral legislature. Originally it consisted of 90 members, however when in 2010 President

Kurmanbek Bakiyev Kurmanbek Sali uulu Bakiyev (born 1 August 1949) is a Kyrgyzstani politician who served as the second president of Kyrgyzstan from 2005 until his removal from office as a result of the Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010, forcing Bakiyev to flee the coun ...

was ousted during the Kyrgyz Revolution, a new

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

was adopted, that increased the number of members to 120. Parties are limited to 65 seats in order to prevent power concentration. A vote on a new constitution cut the number of seats in the parliament by 25%, thereby returning to 90 seats.

Electoral system

Out of the 90 seats in the Supreme Council, 54 are elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

in a single nationwide constituency, and 36 in single-seat districts. To win seats, parties must pass a national electoral threshold of 5% of the votes cast (down from 7% in the October 2020 elections), and receive at least 0.5% of the vote in each of the seven

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. The lists are open, with voters able to cast a single preferential vote. No one party is allowed to be given more than half of the proportional seats.Electoral system
IPU Party lists are required to have at least 30% of the candidates from each gender, and every fourth candidate had to be of a different gender. Each list is also required to have at least 15% of the candidates being from

ethnic minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

and 15% of under 35 years old, as well as at least two candidates with disabilities.

Speakers

The first legislature of Kyrgyzstan was

until 1994. Bicameral legislature was established in 1995, and replaced with unicameral legislature, Supreme Council, in 2005. Chairmen of the Assembly of People's Representatives of Kyrgyzstan was the presiding officer of one of the two chambers of the Supreme Council. The Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Kyrgyzstan was the presiding officer of one of the two chambers of the Supreme Council. Chairmen of the Supreme Council since 2005. Annual compensation of the chairman is 975 000 soms.

Last elections

* 2021 Kyrgyz parliamentary election *

2020 Kyrgyz parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Kyrgyzstan on 4 October 2020. The results showed that pro-government parties had won a supermajority of seats. The election was subsequently annulled by the Central Election Commission during the 2020 Kyrgyzs ...

2015 Kyrgyz parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Kyrgyzstan on 4 October 2015. Electoral system The 120 seats in the Supreme Council (Kyrgyzstan), Supreme Council were elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency, with an elect ...

2010 Kyrgyz parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in Kyrgyzstan on 10 October 2010. All 120 seats of the Supreme Council were elected by the party list system.2007 Kyrgyz parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in Kyrgyzstan on 16 December 2007. The election was called by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev after the constitutional referendum on 21 October 2007 approved a new electoral system and constitutional reform p ...

2005 parliamentary election

The 2005 Kyrgyz parliamentary elections were held in February and March 2005. More than 400 candidates ran for the new 75-member unicameral legislative assembly. There were two rounds of voting held on 27 February and 13 March. Six seats were won by opposition politicians. Most candidates were officially independent. International observers said the elections fell short of international standards for democratic elections in several important areas. Widespread protests over alleged rigging of the election by the government culminated in the

Tulip Revolution The Tulip Revolution, also known as the First Kyrgyz Revolution, led to Kyrgyzstan's then-President of Kyrgyzstan, President Askar Akayev's fall from power. The revolution began after Kyrgyz parliamentary elections, 2005, parliamentary elections ...

on 24 March. Revolutionaries overthrew President

Askar Akayev Askar Akayevich Akayev (, ; born 10 November 1944) is a Kyrgyz former politician who served as President of Kyrgyzstan from 1990 until being overthrown in the March 2005 Tulip Revolution. Education and early career Akayev was born in Kyzyl-B ...

References

External links

Parliament website
* ttp://www.oshmed.com/kyrgyzstan/kyrgyzstan.html Kyrgyzstan information page on the website of Medical Institute,Osh State University Kyrgyzstan {{National unicameral legislatures

Government of Kyrgyzstan 1938 establishments in the Soviet Union 1995 establishments in Kyrgyzstan