KAZAKHSTAN: ALGA LOSES SUIT AGAINST MOJ, PLANS APPEAL

UNCLAS ASTANA 000034

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN (J. MUDGE) AND DRL/PHD (C. KUCHTA-HELBLING)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: ALGA LOSES SUIT AGAINST MOJ, PLANS APPEAL



1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On April 20, the Astana city court ruled
against opposition movement Alga's lawsuit to overturn a
decision by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) denying Alga's
registration as a political party. Alga had claimed that the
MOJ had erred in disqualifying at least a third of the
signatures in Alga's registration petition. Alga plans to file
an appeal of the decision to the Supreme Court. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) On July 23, 2005, Alga, an opposition movement comprised
largely of one faction of the disbanded Democratic Choice of
Kazakhstan (DCK) party, held a formal meeting to propose
founding a new party. Alga filed required registration
paperwork with the MOJ on September 22, 2005. Alga included a
list of 62,178 founding members, above the minimum statutory
requirement of 50,000. Under the law, the MOJ has 30 days to
review political party applications and to announce a decision.
On October 22, the MOJ suspended the Alga registration process
on the grounds that more time was needed to check names
submitted for the party list. In response, Alga filed a lawsuit
claiming that this suspension was a politically-motivated,
illegal extension of the registration deadline. The MOJ
continued with namechecks while the suit was pending, eventually
determining that at least 20,000 of the names submitted were
ineligible. (Note: While press reports put the number at
20,000, Alga representatives claim 30,000 signatures were at
issue. End note.) The MOJ notified Alga on February 20 that its
registration was denied for insufficient number of founding
members.


3. (U) The Astana city court sided with Alga in its April 11
preliminary determination that the MOJ had insufficient evidence
for disqualification for the majority of rejected names. Of the
contested signatures, the MOJ was only able to prove that 400
were improper. The MOJ withdrew the materials that it had
provided to the court to contest the bulk of the signatures.
Based on this ruling, many observers believed that Alga would be
registered as having met legal requirements in its September
2005 filing. However, the court's verdict, announced April 20,
upheld the legality of the MOJ registration committee's denial
of Alga's registration application.


4. (SBU) Under the law, Alga has 15 days to appeal this ruling
to the Supreme Court. Alga's Astana representative Mauken
Omarov indicated to Post's political assistant that the party
planned to appeal the decision. Post has requested a copy of
the decision for review.


5. (SBU) COMMENT: While seen as a negative development by Alga
leaders, the April 20 ruling does not necessarily mean that Alga
will not ultimately be registered. The court determined that
the MOJ's initial denial was not illegal. Presumably, however,
if Alga resubmits its application with sufficient signatures,
the MOJ would not be obligated by the ruling to deny the
application. END COMMENT.

TRACY