The most important event of June 2000 in Kyrgyz was the long-waited round-table meeting of representatives from the government, political parties and NGOs held on June 8-12. The main goal of the meeting called "Civil Consent –Basis of Stable Development in Kyrgyzstan," that included the participation of President Askar Akaev and Prime Minister Muraliev, was to bring together state authorities and opposition members in an open discussion. Over 200 speeches concerning the mass media, the role of political parties and NGOs in the political system, human rights, and priorities of democratic development were delivered. The participants discussed the past parliamentary elections that many considered to have not lived up to democratic principles.

Several important opposition parties and NGOs declined to take part in the meeting because of changes made to the meeting’s format. These included the Party of the Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan, "Ar-Namys" Party, the Communist Party, and the NGO Coalition known as "For Democracy and Civil Society", among others. Regardless, Kyrgyzstani officials declared that the round-table meeting was a success. The original plan was to hold the meeting in the 9+9+9 format. But the presidential press secretary proposed another format that allowed participation of 25 representatives from the government, 25 from political parties, and 25 from NGOs in order not to block participation by other political parties and NGOs by holding the meeting in a small format.

Many opposition leaders believe the larger format allowed the government to avoid extended discussion with the brightest opposition leaders. Those groups that turned down invitations to participate in the meeting felt that such a huge meeting involving 75 representatives would be too large for a meaningful open dialogue to take place. Most felt that no constructive decisions would be made at this meeting. The assistant of the Internal Politics Administration Department stated that the "opposition is not ready for this type of a meeting because it does not know ins and outs of political culture and does not have ability to solve problems constructively."

Opposition representatives believe that the meeting involved mostly like-minded, pro-governmental representatives. The Kyrgyz Republic State Secretary disagreed stating: "Anyone who wanted to be heard was able to participate. Those opposition representatives who rejected the invitation to come to the round-table discussion will have a chance to speak during the next meeting that will be held as part of the process of social-political monitoring on August, 2000." The President Askar Akaev closed the meeting promising that face-to-face meetings would be held regularly in the future. As the guarantor of the Constitution, Akaev promised to hold democratic, alternative presidential elections on October 2000 and to take measures in order to strengthen democracy in Kyrgyzstan.

Nurgiza Toktogulova, student of International Relations Department, American University in Kyrgyzstan.